Peter Wolfe Reminiscences, 1993

The story of the Mathematics Department in the nineteen seventies must focus on the two men who led it during that period: Jack Goldhaber and Brit Kirwan. I don't think it's getting ahead of the story to say that, of course, Brit went on to become President of the University, while Jack, his mentor, is retiring from the university this year after a stint as Acting Provost. The basic difference between the two men is this: Jack is an idealist whose idealism is tempered by pramatism, while Brit is a pragmatist whose pragmatism is tempered by idealism.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Jack was passionate in his desire to build a first-rate math department. Although our department is famous for being a very democratic institution, Jack was not above a little arm-twisting to get the department to go along with one of his schemes. One day he came into my office and said, "Pete, I'm thinking of doing `A'. What do you think?" This was the first I'd heard on the subject. I mulled it over for approximately 46.5 milliseconds and replied, "Well ... Uh ... Have you considered `B'?" At this, Jack admitted that `B' was an interesting possibility and then spent the next five minutes explaining why `B' was perhaps the worst idea he'd ever heard. When he was done I said that I had to admit that `A' sounded pretty good to me. At this Jack thanked me for my sage advice and left the office.

Jack's legacy in the department is the remarkable group of people he hired, some of whom are still here, while others have gone on to greater glory elsewhere. In the former group, I might mention Ron Lipsman, Sut Antman, Scott Wolpert, Becky Herb, Henry King and Steve Kudla while the latter group includes Larry Goldstein, Tai-Ping Liu, Alice Change and Paul Yang. These people have done much to raise the stature of Maryland in the eyes of the mathematical world.

When Jack stepped down in 1977, it was a foregone conclusion that his mantle would pass to the heir-apparent Brit Kirwan. Although the face Brit usually presents to the world is one of affability, make no mistake about it, he can be very tough when the situation demands it. As Chairman, he fought and won two bruising bureaucratic battles (that I am aware of). As the result of one, the department was finally able to hire a full-time business manager (to oversee a multi-million dollar budget). The other pitted him against the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs over a personnel matter. He not only prevailed but eventually took over her job! During his four years as Chairman, Brit was able to hire such luminaries as Larry Washington, Don Zagier, Anatoly Katok, Craig Evans, Dan Rudolph and Jonathan Rosenberg.

Brit moved the department in other ways, to be precise, about a quarter mile to the west. In 1980-81, we were relocated to the Bureau of Mines building [presently Microbiology] while the math building was undergoing a long-planned renovation.

Shortly before our return to the math building in the summer of 1981, it was announced that Brit was appointed Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Somewhat ironically, the first event held in our new colloquium room was the department's farewell to Brit. Jack Goldhaber returned as iterim chairman while a new chairman (John Osborn) was chosen but it was clear that with the return to the math building, an important chapter in our history had ended.