MARIO BENEDICTY Obituary
Mario Benedicty, 88, long a resident of Rome, Italy and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and since 1994 of Palo Alto, California, died at home at Channing House on April 8, 2011. Born July 16, 1922, in Trieste, Italy. Served in the British Special Forces during WWII, fighting to free Italy from Nazi occupation and fascist rule, rose to the rank of Captain and was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor. Received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Rome in 1946. Contributed the mathematics articles for the Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano. Worked with Architect Luigi Moretti (know in the USA for designing Watergate) to establish the Institute for Operations Research and Applied Mathematics Urbanism (IRMOU) to apply mathematical theories to architectural design and planning. Taught Mathematics at the Universita Gregoriana in the Vatican, La Sapienza University of Rome, the University of British Columbia and the University of Pittsburgh where he was Department Chair of Mathematics and Statistics from 1962-1974. Retired to Palo Alto, California in 1994 and moved to Channing House in 2004. He enjoyed rowing crew in the Gulf of Trieste and one of his great desires as a mathematician was fulfilled when he was able to celebrate February 29, 2000 - actually a leap year! Survived by a host of loving friends and family, including his wife Alfonsina Mucciante, children Gustavo Benedicty and Franca Benedicty Barton Clarke, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Contributions in his name may be made to "The Campaign to Build a New Health Center at Channing House."
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4 Entries
Giuliana Benedicty
April 29, 2011
I have many memories but will most remember his summer lessons in how to draw different geometric shapes and developing film. And I still repeat what he used to say about decaf coffee 'it's like taking a shower with a raincoat on, what's the point?!'. Knowing him as a very modest grandfather, it's fun to read stories about him as a professor.
Patricia Schuetz
April 26, 2011
In 1978, working on a night-school diploma in computer science, I tried to take advanced calculus as an independent study to save fifty dollars on tuition. It was not a good idea, but Dr. B., the professor of record, kindly taught me during his office hours, and in the end gave me a passing grade not strictly supported by my final exam. He was a humanitarian and a marvelous man!
Frank Sledge
April 26, 2011
In the early 1980s, when I was still a graduate student in Mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Benedicty invited me to co-author with him a textbook, "Discrete Mathematical Structures," for a new course of the same name. In addition to his far superior knowledge of mathematics, Dr. Benedicty (a native speaker of Italian) taught me the use of the English language as a surgical tool, nearly as precise as math itself. It was among the most delightful and instructive episodes of my life, and has served me well throughout my career. We were both very proud of the book, and it did well. I can never express my gratitude to him for that partnership. I will sorely miss him.
April 24, 2011
Dr. Benedicty was a wonderful math professor and a friendly and humorous personality. My twin brother and I took many of the same math classes at Pitt in the late 80's and always made sure we signed up for "Mario's class". We still laugh today about his quote to our class "If you have the choice of learning a few formulas before the test or getting some sleep, get some sleep!".
Obviously our little classes he taught were just a footnote on a truly remarkable life, but I'm glad he had time for us.
Patrick Clark
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