N.B. This incomplete list includes students mentioned in the press or elsewhere, as well as those who provided tributes to Irwin J. Hoffman. It would be great to include missing GWHS graduation years, along with links to personal or professional websites.
If you have information to add, please email bevsimm@irwinjhoffman.com
Russell Anderson
Nelson J. (Jess) Barmatz (GWHS 1963)
“You were obviously central to my life since I’ve spent my entire education and career as a mathematician and software eng. Every math problem at Stanford and in grad school used your engineering graph paper and each left arrow toward the answer made me smile and think of you.”
Teresa (Tess) L. Barmatz (GWHS 1963)
“Learning the beauty and elegance of pure math from you and the excitement and enthusiasm for teaching that you instilled in us, were the primary catalysts for my research focus in computational chemistry and my model for teaching freshman chemistry. You taught us not to trip on those bumps in the log.”
Kurt G. Beam (GWHS 1963)
“Thanks for being an inspirational teacher who provided me with intellectual tools that I’ve used throughout my career in science. NO doubt you were less impressed by our lofty standardized test scores than we were.” PhD, Academy of Science
Steve Cohen (GWHS 1984)
Robert (Bob) Davidson (GWHS 1969)
Tom Davis (GWHS 1966)
Bill Dorsey
Howard Fear
Mark Frank (GWHS 1974)
TRIBUTE: “…Looking back through my life, through the glasses of time, reveals an individual teacher/mentor/person, larger, sharper, and more prominent than the others, laying the foundation for years of growth and development, years of education and self-improvement, and acquisition of the skills for a lifetime.”
Laura Freeman
Alan E. Friedman (GWHS 1963)
Jay Glaser (GWHS 1965)
“I took tennis from Irwin Hoffman at GGCC, trigonometry where he was fantastic, and I went down to Control Data on around 13th and Broadway to learn elementary Fortran programming, using cards on huge computers in cold rooms that were impossibly sluggish. My mother also took tennis lessons from him at GG, to be able to stay in the game with her friends; he did his best to keep her inspired. What a great man. ”
Robert E. (Bob) Gray (GWHS 1963)
“My 34-year career as an aerospace engineer had its roots in two loves of mine: mathematics and flying. Since I was the first in my family to go to college, that added up to aerospace engineer in my mind. The most influential person in the love for math was Mr. Hoffman.”
Randy Guber (GWHS 1969)
Jan Louise Handke (GWHS 1963)
“Thanks for requiring us to rework every homework problem we got wrong. That is the reason for my score on the advanced math achievement test. I was a history major in college but gravitated back to math and statistics as an environmental health epidemiologist for the US Public Health Service.”
Irvin Y. Hashimoto (GWHS 1963)
Bruce F. Heitler (GWHS 1963)
“Competition can be rude and brutish. Its offspring are many losers and a few bloated winners, who cower in their arrogance. Yet your inspired pedagogy saddled competition with humor, bridled it with collaboration, and spurred an entire class to ride this rough beast to competence, friendship, and delight.”
Bruce Hines (GWHS 1969)
Gary Jackson (GWHS 1963)
TRIBUTE: “For me, Mr. Hoffman having a high expectation for my grades, let me know that I could succeed in all the classes that I took at GW.”
Robert Jardine (GWHS 1967)
TRIBUTE: “Three words come to mind when I think of Hoffy: dedication, enthusiasm, and inspiration…”
Robert D. Jenkins (GWHS 1963)
Janet H. Johnson (GWHS 1963)
Robert A. (Bob) Kahn (GWHS 1964) 1, 2, 3
Larry Kauvar
Pete Kingsley (GWHS 1964)
“I too attended Mr. Hoffman’s calculus class my senior year in 1964.
His teachings were infectious. I became so interested in math that my B.S. was in Mathematics and Computer Science. I stayed in IT until retirement. I had no direction in high school as to what I wanted to do in life so I owe him so much.
“After school he worked with me on tennis. I still have the wooden Bancroft tennis racket he gave me. Played tennis the rest of my life until my wife permanently hurt her ankle.
“My father was a teacher for 40 years and he could never remember all his student’s names. It would be surprising if Mr. Hoffman could.
“Please give him my thanks for inspiring his students and me.”
John Klatt (GWHS 1966)
Jeanne Kleinman Williams (GWHS 1969)
Joyce Kobayashi (GWHS 1966)
Gary J. Kopff (GWHS 1963)
“Most of my life I have bridled under rules, with one formative exception: You insisted that we do our math homework precisely on yellow 5-square per inch grid paper. That precision disciplined both my mind and my writing. The love of mathematics that I learned from you led to my career in finance.”
Barbara A. Lane Volpe (GWHS 1963)
“Your dancing about at the chalkboard with unbridled joy over the elegant solution to a difficult equation fed the soul of my intellectual curiosity. In all of the joyous “aha!” moments of my intellectual life, I have remembered your remarkable teaching with a smile.”
Marshall A. Levine (GWHS 1963)
“I remember your warmth, humanity, and enthusiasm. You taught me organization and discipline in solving problems. At the same time, you also taught me to be critical of what I was being taught and the approach. I will always remember how you described the new math SMSG as some math, some garbage.”
Randolph H. (Randy) Levine 1, 2
TRIBUTE:”The more I think about it the more I wonder what his magic was. Because it was magic. Somehow he guided me to understand the formality of geometric proofs, and in doing that I learned how to think logically.”
John Lewin (GWHS 1979)
Randy Lewis
Sharon Long (GWHS 1969)
Sanford Mark (GWHS 1979)
“As we toured the school last summer for our 40th Reunion, it brought back reflections and memories of all our former teachers that had influenced our professional lives. I didn’t personally have any courses with Dr. Hoffman, but I remember seeing and talking to him beside the computer lab. Both him, Mr. Clark, Mr. Aanhdahl, Dr. Tsumara, Ms. Wohl, Mr. Keefe, and all the other faculty provided me the necessary skill set to go to college to pursue my Computer Science and Engineering degrees, which work I still apply in the industry today. It was a pleasure and honor remembering him and all the teachers were a factor in my life. He truly was a brilliant and gifted man to be a pioneer in the computer evolution.”
Steven Meer
James R. Plattner (GWHS 1963)
Laurel Puck Northup (GWHS 1969)
Michael S. Radetsky (GWHS 1963)
Harlan R. Ribnick (GWHS 1971)
TRIBUTE: “I recall, for the most part, that we learned in his class with the aid of the other students. We taught each other and ourselves. It was a very cooperative environment and not very competitive within our group, at least.”
John M. Rosenberg (GWHS 1963) 1, 2
Larry Rothman (GWHS 1969)
Suzanne (Susie) Rudd (Hull) (GWHS 1967)
Roger L. Rudolph (GWHS 1963)
Steve Satterfield (GWHS 1985)
TRIBUTE:”I still use computers every day and I appreciate what [Irwin] taught us. I’m proud to have been at George Washington High School for his computer program.”
Heidi Schempf Masloboeva (GWHS 1986)
Ron Sherman
Sara (Sally) J. Silverstein Thomas (GWHS 1963)
“As a tennis pro, your hard work and creativity showed me how one teacher earned a much-needed summer salary. As my boss, you unintentionally taught me to stand up for myself and demand equal pay for equal work. As a math teacher, your joy and uninhibited enthusiasm have inspired me all my life.”
Beverly Simmons (GWHS 1967)
TRIBUTE: “… Hardly a day passes that I don’t think gratefully and fondly of my high school math teacher, Irwin Hoffman. Every time I sit down at my computer, I credit him for giving me the skills to figure out what I need to do with it and the confidence that I can do it.”
Stephen Jay Smith
“You were a gifted, dedicated, loving Teacher to whom I am most grateful. I was only a so-so Tennis Student of yours @ Green Gables but I was a better than average Math Student of yours @ GW. I still remember “Cobal & Fortran” with much foreboding. I never really “got it,” but I gave you my best effort because I wanted to live up to your high expectations. I valued your approval, loved your sense of humor and will ALWAYS remember you with much love in my heart. Thank you Dr. Hoffman!!! I want to thank you and tell you what a wonderful difference you made in my life!!”
Dick Snyder (GWHS 1966)
“Back in 1966 he told me, ‘Snyder, don’t take any more math classes after this one [Algebra 4-Trig].’ That boiled in my gut for decades. At GW, a B meant nice try and C was failure. I swore to vindicate myself and prove him wrong. Finally, in 1976, I enrolled in a calculus class at UCD and aced it. I’d finally triumphed over my cruel mentor. When having lunch with him in 2006, I think, I brought this up. He explained that he would never discourage anyone from taking math but was concerned about my GPA. I can’t remember a single thing about calculus. I remember terms trig concepts like sines and cosines but have no idea what they do. I do remember a teacher with a maniacal commitment to teaching and a legend, as well.”
Charles (Chuck, “Heavy Duty”) Tucker 1, 2
Diane Van Deren
David Zuckerman (GWHS 1969)