Today I learned that my teacher, mentor, and friend, Dr. Tamar Avineri, passed away due to cancer. This came as a complete shock me, and I wanted to dedicate this piece to her and say a few words.

The first class I took with Dr. Avineri was Graph Theory, and I learned a great deal from that experience. It wasn’t until the second semester that I was truly able to work with her after explaining my interest in reciprocity laws - I wrote a paper, and she worked with me to revise it, critiquing my proof-writing and giving her own prose suggestions. During that time, we developed a wonderful relationship. I began to see her as a mentor, as someone who could advise me and someone I could trust.

Going into my senior year, Dr. Avineri was there advising me as I submitted a paper to a journal. Even as she was undergoing cancer treatment - something that I viewed to be a sign of her improving health - she continued to teach and mentor me and others, providing immense support and giving many words of encouragment and wisdom. I remember meeting in her office, over Zoom, and in other places to discuss my work. I remember one day she was working through my paper in her favorite coffee shop while I was in a Zoom meeting with her. Even though it was noisy, she persisted in having the meeting and insisted on advising me.

I saw her as a friend. I looked forward to maintaining in contact with her in the future to speak to her about her experiences, to speak about how her creative teaching style and contagious enthusiasm have led me to wherever I will be, to speak to her about my own ambitions and dreams and how she once had them too. I looked forward to Dr. Avineri being in my life even if we were far apart from one another.

Dr. Avineri was a good person. I regret that I wasn’t able to say goodbye in the way that I would have hoped. She was kind. She was respectful. She was a wonderful teacher, never giving students the answers but instead guiding them toward it. She represented a fleeting hope for education in this country, always loving and prioritizing her students and defying the ordinary: she saw education as a greater opportunity, and she wanted to impress better education and ideas upon developing people. She even had a great sense of style - even as she was undergoing cancer treatment, she wore a fashionable wrap around her head. She won an award in 2024, and it outlines much of her life story and many accomplishments; it is linked here.

There is so much more good to say about Dr. Avineri that it is impossible to contain all of it within this short piece - I wish I would have been able to learn more about her and her past, as well as her future. Dr. Avineri will be missed by many, and I will never forget how she has impacted me.

May she rest in peace.

(2 May, 2025)