A movie to honor Marvin

Elana's partner, Kathryn, made this movie to honor Marvin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_BBDPHUkuY

Photos of Marvin and his family

Elana Knopp sent these photos.

Wissam Raji

As some of you might know a few months ago, we started organizing a workshop on modular forms and related topics at the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. I contacted Dr. Knopp to ask him to come and give a mini-course in the workshop. At first, he showed interest and we exchanged a couple of emails. I was almost certain that he was going to come to the workshop until a week before his death when he mentioned that he can not do it.

As a result, I will be dedicating the workshop to the memory of Marvin Knopp. This person deserves a lot more than that but for the time being this is the best I can offer for his memory. 

Please check the following link:
http://www.cams.aub.edu.lb/events/confs/modular2012/index.htm

I hope some of you can make it to the workshop.

Carl Mayer

Marvin was all-mensch, all-the-time.

I first met Marvin shortly after I asked his de facto step-daughter Karen on a date. Karen had accepted my invitation to attend a B.B. King concert the week after I met her at a New York City party. On the night of the concert, I arrived at the Blues Club; Karen never appeared. Instead, Karen went to spend the weekend visiting with Marvin and her mother Phyllis in Philadelphia. Few men were any competition for Marvin. (As Karen later explained, it’s important to stand-up a man at least once to let them know who is boss.) I wound up trying to sell my extra ticket to the concert at the door of the Blues Club. I let it be known that I would part with the $35 dollar ticket for $20. A homeless man, smelling faintly of Night Train Express, offered me two bucks and that’s how my first date with my future wife involved attending a concert with a homeless person while Karen visited with Marvin.

With my courtship off to a good start, I knew the biggest challenge would be getting Marvin’s approval. Marvin was too kind to openly express his disapproval, but I knew I had a high bar to hurdle because a lawyer is a real step down from a Mathematician and Marvin had a long-standing policy of setting up Karen with his students. Pretty soon the Marvin-Tilly Life Exam/Boot Camp was administered. None of Karen’s prior boyfriends had passed this test, let alone survived it. It involved a visit to the home of Tilly: Karen’s then 90-year old grandmother, with Marvin presiding.

Marvin’s first pitch was high and inside. “I assume you have heard of my very good friend legal historian Lawrence Friedman?” was his first question to me. “Oh yes, I read Professor Friedman’s History of American Law with great interest and in fact found it to be on a par with Professor Morton Horwitz’s Transformation of American Law 1870-1960 as one of the most important books in American legal history of the last half-century” I answered. I hit that one out of the park.

“What’s your favorite movie?” asked Marvin suspiciously. “Casablanca’ I said without hesitation, partly because my family traveled through there when they fled the Nazis in 1940.” (Second pitch over the fence.) “I think Tilly needs some help with the crossword puzzle”, said Marvin probing for weakness. “Great, I love a challenge.” (Only later would I learn that Tilly finishes the New York Times crossword by noon everyday and still does so at age 97.) I wasn’t as good as Marvin at this endeavor but with a few clutch assists like “Nawab” and “Quisling” I hit some solid singles. Marvin remained wary: “I bet you’ve never been to Wrigley field.” “Well actually, Professor Knopp, I attended games at Wrigley, but the key is you have to get the obstructed seats or bleachers; those are the real bargains.” Marvin loved a deal almost as much as he loved the Cubs. Grand-Slam walk-off home run.

Now that I had Marvin’s approval, I was in the clear and only had to get Karen to agree to actually show up on a date with me. Tilly grudgingly gave her approval, based on Marvin’s reluctant say-so, but to this day she thinks all lawyers are useful primarily as fish-bait. That first afternoon and evening with Marvin, we discussed, in no particular order, the history of American Jazz, theories of physics, the Chicago Cubs, the best diners in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Black Sox scandal, the history of the Fox-Trot, and the origins of the Yiddish language. Marvin was a consummate teacher, both in and out of the classroom.

To borrow a phrase from his chosen profession, Marvin was an extraordinarily congruent person. There was no artifice or malice to him. He sought truth and beauty in his mathematical research and he strived to bring those same qualities to his family and collegial relationships. Marvin was uncommonly devoted not only to Phyllis but to his three children – who he raised to become unique and compassionate individuals – and to Karen and her brothers. Those that give more to the world than take from the world are a distinct minority, and Marvin was among them.

Marvin had the M’s all sewed up. Mensch. Maven on Life. Mathematician. It is fitting that M is the 13^th letter in the alphabet. The number 13 has particular significance in Judaism; there are said to be 13 attributes of G-d and the philosopher Maimonides formulated his 13 principles of faith. Anyone who met Marvin could pretty rapidly discern at least 13 qualities Marvin possessed that made him a righteous man. The Talmud says that the greater the loss, the heavier the heart. Many are of heavy heart since his passing.

Farewell Marvin.

My father's tribute to his friend Gene Golub

My father's friendships seemed to find no obstacle in distance or circumstance. Many of them lasted a lifetime. His relationship with Gene, his close friend and college roommate, was one of those deep and lasting friendships.

http://icme.stanford.edu/history/golub_celebration_2008/videos.php

A tribute written by my father

I thought I would offer a link found by my wife Violaine, to a tribute written by my father in appreciation of the mathematician Emil Grosswald. My father's friend and colleague Wendell Ressler described the circumstances of this tribute to me quite beautifully.

"Your father was working on the Grosswald volume when I was getting to know him in the early 90's at Temple; he thought very highly of Emil Grosswald and wanted to get the introduction right. (I remember he was very impressed by that phone call from Grosswald giving his regrets for missing the talk because he was in the hospital - dying as it turned out. Marvin told that story several times.) I think Marvin did get the introduction right - it is a nice tribute, but also a clear expression of Marvin's values. It is especially poignant to read him honoring a mentor, as we remember him now."

http://books.google.com/books?id=nzxTVb0k8rIC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=marvin+knopp+mathematics&source=bl&ots=7W9CMScfjc&sig=l5ZvIgOhqxkcWUx5__HwRpWqE-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PzP9TvucFOT50gHphKSbAg&ved=0CE8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=marvin%20knopp%20mathematics&f=false

The idea that we can't talk with Marvin any longer is something that I will never get used to. To say that he was a great man is an understatement, to say that he was a fantastic Mathematician is an understatement, and to say that he was kind, compassionate, and understanding is also an understatement. Words don't seem to have much meaning here, but they are all we have at the moment, as we write this blog.

He is, and I use the present tense because he always will be in my mind, a point of light for me in life - knowing that such a human being was put here on earth helps me have hope for humanity.

To do great Mathematics is wonderful - but he was able to combine that with a kind of human compassion that few of us have come to know or appreciate. His beautiful Mathematics will live on through us. I was very fortunate to have known Marvin, both Mathematically and personally, and I hope to transmit some of that fortune to others now. Recently I sent him a postcard, made of cork, because I know how much he liked one-on-one communication rather than mass-media style communication. This point that he made (refusing to read emails as well) was an interesting one, and marks his wisdom to stand against a modern stampede towards an over-use of technology. I think that as time moves on, we will realize more and more his wisdom to moderate techonology by maintaining a human touch and a basic human caring for each other. We can all still learn from his wisdom. I miss his kind smile, I miss his very pointed sense of humor, and I so miss Marvin, the man whom I was so very fortunate to call my friend.