Scott Lange '69
Student
Above all Dr. Borelli enjoyed sharing math with all of us and used his own enthusiasm to spark ours. He worked very hard to make topics as clear as possible. It was obvious that he cared deeply for students.
Clyde Johnston
Colleague at Innosoft International, Inc.
We’ve all lost a larger than life guy. As President/CEO of Innosoft International, Inc. from 1991-2000 I’ll always remember Bob Borrelli as bright, fun, and a very committed and supportive Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Innosoft. Bob and Urusula Borrelli made the world a better place each and every day.
Bobby Berger '94
Student
Professor Borrelli went out of his way to ensure I understood the subject. He introduced me to modelling & solving complex problems using computers as a tool which was influential in ALL my work thereafter. I will celebrate his life & pass on the great karma he gave me.
Jeff Groves
Colleague and friend
Bob was a great colleague. When I was a young faculty member at HMC, it quickly became clear to me that Bob had real pull at the institution. He helped to shape our college, especially in his work in the Mathematics Department, but also much more widely. But he was also just a very cool guy. I enjoyed running into him and having a quick chat–he was always interested, always curious. I’ll miss him.
Craig Watkins '76
Student, Admirer, and frequent Imitator
While my senior advisor was, on paper, Courtney Coleman, it had become clear long before that that “Borelli and Coleman” meant either or both. Their text was used several years ago for a “more theoretical” DE subject at MIT, and the fact that I had taken a class at Mudd with the mimeographed manuscript notes (which I still have!) impressed many. It wasn’t until I starting teaching DEs with computational methods
that I fully appreciated how much I had learned without realizing it.
A few years ago I was asked to help referee a physics paper for the American Journal of Physics, cited the printed B&C text, and made a fan out of the former president of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
Of course, with Bob and Courtney, and the late Stavros, it wasn’t all just math. Others know of Bob’s devotion to wine, while others were more of the beer frame of mind, so to speak. Once at a party at John
Greever’s, Stavros had brought a bottle of homemade wine. Bob claimed it was good, the rest of us found it undrinkable, and Courtney was the only one to speak for the majority.
The night after the class of ’76 graduated, and the parents had been put to bed, one of our number decided to open a magnum of champagne given as a graduation gift. On our way to borrow ice from the chemistry department, we saw that the light was on in Bob’s office. We shared the champagne, and he just happened to have a bottle of better stuff in his desk drawer.
As I recall, our impromptu party broke up around 2AM.
Anyone who has used or can get a hold of their text will not be surprised to see the long example of using differential equations to decide on the best depth for a wine cellar.