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I met both
Peter and Mort
in 1968
at
Both of them became
life-long friends
Peter died in 2021
Mort died in 2022
Peter was my literary editor,
partner in poetry,
a successful Hollywood actor
and
—had time allowed—
would have been
my chess partner
His tribute will be
Page 2
of this tandem
This page is a tribute
to the man I first knew as
"Professor Mecloskey"
He was my teacher
during my second college semester
and he hired me
to run a tutoring program
on campus
He was the reason
I was one of
a very select group of students
who couldsit
in the faculty dining room
without arousing suspicion
or condescension
He had the rarest of gifts
for a math professor:
a genuine sense of humor
incorporated into
his lectures
All but the first of five semesters
at the Community College,
Mecloskey was either
my professor
or someone I visited
frequently
My ninth semester
as an under-graduate,
I was a student-teacher
and Mecloskey
was my advisor
when the Los Angeles Times
featured me
as
"The Godfather of Math,"
I mailed a copy of the article
to Mort Mecloskey,
thanking him for all
his wit, wisdom,
and inspiration
He telephoned me and asked
if I would be in New York
anytime soon
The answer was YES
and I appeared
as a guest on Mecloskey's
radio show on
I appeared on his radio show
a second time when
the LA Times featured
the PythagoRap
He was partial to a t-shirt slogan:
I'd rather be fly-fishing
and he appreciated my observation
about the invisible slogan
on the backside
of the t-shirt:
I am fly-fishing
Mecloskey and I had
numerous phone conversations
over the next two decades
because he was generous enough
to give me his home #
Always there was laughter
related to some algebraic
or geometric concept
However,
as time passed beyond 2016,
I was reluctant to telephone him
because I feared his decease.
I did not confirm his death
until eight months ago
when the current station managed
at WUSB informed me
of Professor Mecloskey's passing
I find it somehow appropriate that
Mort died at the age of ninety
because he certainly had
the right angle on things
mathematical and philosophical
but
I do recall his once asking me
"Why are there no left angles?"
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