  During his too short career, Olivier Chesneau pioneered the study of the
circumstellar environments of low mass evolved stars using very high angular
resolution techniques. He applied state of the art high angular resolution
techniques, such as optical interferometry and adaptive optics imaging, to the
the study of a variety of objects, from AGB stars to Planetary Nebulae, via
e.g. Born Again stars, RCB stars and Novae. I present here an overview of this
work and most important results by focusing on the paths he followed and key
encounters he made to reach these results. Olivier liked to work in teams and
was very strong at linking people with complementary expertises to whom he
would communicate his enthusiasm and sharp ideas. His legacy will live on
through the many people he inspired.
