In September 1998, during the 'International Workshop on Analysis and Vibrat ing Systems' held in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, it was decided by a group of participants to honour Peter Lancaster on the occasion of his 70th birthday with a volume in the series 'Operator Theory: Advances and Applications'. Friends and colleagues responded enthusiastically to this proposal and within a short time we put together the volume which is now presented to the reader. Regarding accep tance of papers we followed the usual rules of the journal 'Integral Equations and Operator Theory'. The papers are dedicated to different problems in matrix and operator theory, especially to the areas in which Peter contributed so richly. At our request, Peter agreed to write an autobiographical paper, which appears at the beginning of the volume. It continues with the list of Peter's publications. We believe that this volume will pay tribute to Peter on his outstanding achievements in different areas of mathematics. 1. Gohberg, H. Langer P ter Lancast r *1929 Operator Theory: Advances and Applications, Vol. 130, 1- 7 (c) 2001 Birkhiiuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland My Life and Mathematics Peter Lancaster I was born in Appleby, a small county town in the north of England, on November 14th, 1929. I had two older brothers and was to have one younger sister. My family moved around the north of England as my father's work in an insurance company required.