On February 6, the College sent out this email to the faculty and staff:
Longtime Professor of Mathematics, Dr. Harry Lewis Rosenzweig, died Friday, February 3 at home following complications from pancreatic cancer.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Harry received his B.S. degree in mathematics at M.I.T., then journeyed to the University of Arizona for an M.S. in mathematics, followed by completion of his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. He taught at several institutions as a lecturer before his appointment as an assistant professor at Haverford College. When he arrived on the Hill in 1971, he was firmly committed to the liberal arts. He served as the chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department from 1984-85 and again 1994-95.
During his years at the College, his teaching specialties in differential topology, set theory and logic, and singularity theory prepared mathematics majors for success in prestigious graduate schools and in pursuit of careers in cryptology with federal agencies. He also taught Jan Term courses on such topics as intuitive topology aka the “rubber-sheet geometry”, and mathematics analysis of infinity for majors and non-majors alike.
For many years he coordinated the testing of the department’s majors in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. Under his tutelage, then Western Maryland College students competitively scored high marks on the six-hour test and ranked either tenth or eleventh among all small colleges in the nation.
His professional accomplishments have been recognized over the years with several National Science Foundation Fellowships, and in 1987, Harry spent a year at Cornell University as a visiting professor funded by a Dana Foundation grant. In addition to his membership in local and national mathematics societies, he was active professionally as part of the Mathematics Department’s Problem-Solving Group and submitted over 100 solutions to problems to the American Mathematics Monthly, The Mathematics Magazine, and the College Mathematics Journal.
He was a fierce competitor on the tennis court as well as an aficionado of the Victorian period and collected porcelain from the era and elegant hatpins.
He is survived by his wife, Frances Richards Rosenzweig, and his grown children Scott (Andrea) Rosenzweig, Janis (Kevin) Davisson, and Laura (John) Reames and six grandchildren. Services will be held at SOL LEVINSON & BROS., INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road, at Mount Wilson Lane on Wednesday, February 8, at 12 Noon. Interment will be at Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery, Berrymans Lane in Reisterstown Please omit flowers. Contributions in his memory may be sent to Carroll Hospice, 292 Stoner Avenue, Westminster, MD 21157.
