Martin M. Guterman,62, a long-time professor of mathematics at Tufts University and a resident of Bemont died on Sunday after a two-year battle with Esophageal Cancer. A lifelong proponent of mathematics education who worked to counter the all-too-common cultural bias against mathematics, Mr. Guterman co-authored several college textbooks on linear algebra and differential equations with his Tufts colleague, Zbigniew Nitecki. He helped introduce, and later supported continuance of, the undergraduate mathematics requirement at Tufts. He was especially proud of two courses he created, both for non-majors: the mathematics of social choice(about election systems)and the mathematics of symmetry groups(about wallpaper patterns and Escher-type designs). The courses proved very popular, judging by enrollment numbers, and melded Mr. Guterman's loves of mathematics and of politics and art. The walls of his office are covered with artwork done by students in the symmetry course, who produced final projects in which they created their own tiling patterns.
Mr. Guterman was the son of David and Hannah Guterman, who emigrated from Poland. Born in New York City, Mr. Guterman received his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1961 and his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1971. He did his dissertation work under Daniel Gorstein. Mr. Guterman moved to the Boston area in 1965 and joined the faculty at Tufts in 1966.
As a graduate student at Cornell, he met and married his wife of almost 40 years, Sonia Kosow Guterman, then a biologist and now an intellectual-property lawyer. From Mrs. Guterman, he learned to love plants, an interest that later led to his creating an impressive bonsai collection. Some of his bonsai trees won prizes in local competitions. With his wife, Mr. Guterman was an active supporter of classical-music performance and education in the Boston area. Mr. Guterman was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in. Aside from his interest in educating children and college students about mathematics, he also was a champion of womens achievements in the sciences and arts. He encouraged his wife as she completed a second doctorate, in law, at Suffolk University, the California Institute of Technology, and the Juilliard School.
During Mr. Guterman's fight with cancer, he enrolled in a clinical trial of a novel chemotherapy combination at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He long outlived the statistical average, and was proud to have participated in Lila Guterman's wedding and attended Beth Guterman's debut as a viola soloist at Lincoln Center, in New York, both in late October.Friends and family describe Mr. Guterman as loving, giving, friendly,funny and caring. No one who met him could miss his obvious joy in getting to know people and talking about music, mathematics, or his family. It was also hard to escape his bad puns and hiliarous jokes. He was a true lover of life. In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by a son-in-law, Christopher Kankel; a brother, Israel Guterman; two nephews, Seth Guterman and Hal Guterman; and an aunt; Fruma Winter. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, February 7 at 11 am in the Goddard Chapel at Tufts University, 3 The Green, Medford, MA. The family requests that memorial donations be sent in lieu of flowers to one of two scholarship funds celebrating Mr. Guterman's support of students in music and mathematics. Donations in his memory may be sent to New England Conservatory's Development Office,290 Huntington Avenue,Boston, MA 02115 or Maria Conroy,Tufts University Development Office, Suite 2600, 200 Boston Ave.,Medford, Mass. 02155.