Jack Cuzick ’70

Student

Very sorry to hear this. As a student pourer at his blind wine tastings, math major (’70) and CGS PhD, and long time friend afterwards, I learned a lot from him. He was always enthusiastic about what he was doing and a great companion.

Please send my condolences to is surviving family.

Rob Outterson ’96

Student

I will miss Professor Borelli. As a student, I felt the unflagging joy he had for what he did and taught. He relished seeing that spark of understanding kindle in young minds, year after year, and his open enthusiasm encouraged all of us. He welcomed students into the wondrous world of ordinary differential equations, easily playing the roles of inviting ambassador and gracious host. It was an honor to have been touched by his spirit.

I extend condolences and sympathy to his family and close friends. May his memory bring you peace.

David Karlton ’93

Wine tasting

I never had a class with Bob. But he was such a great personality, and I vividly remember attending one of his wine tasting events. He was so generous in letting us young kids try real wines, and I always admired him for being able to connect to students and colleagues on a genuine, human level. He will be missed.

Beverly West

Colleague

I shall most sorely miss Bob Borrelli — super colleague, mentor, and friend.

I first met Bob in 1976 when he and Court Coleman came to Ithaca for a MAA Workshop in writing modules for applications of mathematics, and we began 37 years of collaborations in our shared interest in differential equations. In 1990 Bob invited us at Cornell to be charter members of CODEE, (an NSF Consortium for Ordinary Differential Equations Experiments), and in 2010 he drew me out of retirement to join the renewed online CODEE (Community of Ordinary Differential Equations Educators).

The best part of this last endeavor was the seven weeks I and my husband Jim spent at the Claremont Colleges this past winter, working to make that effort sustainable after the NSF grant money ran out. Bob was so full of ideas — he always had lots for me to do. We spent many a productive hour following up on old contacts and making new ones.

But it was not all work! After hours and on weekends we shared many adventures and meals, once in each other’s homes, but mostly in restaurants (always Italian, of course, and utterly superb). Perhaps our favorite adventure was to the Getty Center, where Bob wanted to see the exhibit of 14th century Florentine Art — sharing this with him was total enrichment! Bob was so anxious to help us get the most out of our short time in California — he loaned us guidebooks and made connections to places of special interest to us that we never would have found on our own. We had the pleasure of several trips together into L.A. and Cedars Sinai, with Bob as our private tour guide.

These and many other memories, and all the lessons learned from Bob over the years, will be with us forever.

Chris Smith

Personal Friend

I met Bob and Ursula in 2001 when I moved in next door to their vacation home in Running Springs, Calif. At the time, both Bob and I were were writing books, his being his mathematics textbook. Over the years, we developed a close friendship, and I later managed his and Ursula’s affairs when they were out of the country. I considered Bob one of my closest friends and someone on whom I could always rely. His passing marks the end of an era, and I will miss him greatly.

Susan Lewallen ’76

Student and great admirer

Bob Borrelli and Courtney Coleman remain to this day the best teachers I’ve ever had. Bob’s generosity of spirit inspires me and I can learn to be a better person myself from reflecting on it. In the last few years he brought me back to thinking about mathematics again and I was lucky to spend a few hours with him and ask some questions I wish I’d had the sense to ask when I was his student 37 years ago. It is a privilege to have known him and been his student. Bob will be alive in so many hearts and minds for years and years.

Liz Baughman

I’ll miss Bob stopping by my office to just chat or to check on the endowment funds he supported throughout the years. If you look up the word Gentleman in the dictionary you should see a picture of Bob Borrelli. Bob was always interested in having a conversation about HMC, about the Math Department, about what was going on in your life, and about what was going on in his life. I recall going to Ursula’s service at Our Lady of Assumption and I so admired his strength as he spoke about his time with Ursula and how she enhanced his life. They are both together in peace and probably enjoying a glass of fine wine! He will be missed.

Ami Radunskaya

Colleague

Bob was a wonderful mentor and my good buddy. I had the best dinner of my life as his guest at a gathering of the “Royal Order of the Purple Palate”, where we were supposed to identify each of the fifteen wines served. His encouragement as I blundered through this challenge was typical of his support throughout my career: “Don’t worry about what THEY think, you’re doing great.” He was never patronizing, but he understood that – in his words – some interpersonal dynamics in our community involve “too much testosterone”. His advice about teaching, publishing and chairing departments has been invaluable to me. Since our first meeting during my interview at Claremont, we’ve worked on many projects together and, at our last meeting last week, Bob melted my heart when he said “We make a good team!”. I’ll wear my red vest with pride and fond memories. I’ll miss you, dear friend.

Richard Zucker ’74

Student, Advisee, Friend

Bob was my thesis advisor during my senior year, and I’m sure my affection for him is largely due to that experience. But that was only part of it. He was a kind and gentle and jovial man who was bigger than life. He was easy to love. I will miss him very much.

John Trager ’96

Inspired by

During my senior year of college, Prof. Borrelli and my girlfriend rekindled the HMC Wine Tasting club, after a several year hiatus. We had a good time, and learned a lot, but that wasn’t really what I’ll always be grateful for him for. The last meeting of the year, he supplied the majority of the wines, and the pinnacle of the tasting was a 20-year old first cru bordeaux that had to be worth $500/bottle. That experience changed me. Not because the wine was so transcendant (which it was), or because of the monetary value, but because Prof. Borrelli loved wine and sharing so much that it was perfectly natural for him to gift thousands of dollars worth of his collection to (largely ungrateful) students so that they could experience the heights of the art.

Over the past eighteen years, I’ve made a habit of hosting tastings of all kinds, and have regularly paid the lion’s share of the bill for expensive libations of all sorts so that others could experience them. I can credit that impulse to Prof Borrelli, who taught me that it’s more important to share the experience than to count the cost.

I regret that I don’t have an academic memory to share, but I am so grateful for the experience and the spirit of giving that he imparted, that I needed to share.