By Pam Hersh
10/10/10: The numerologists had a ball and so did I — by going to a memorial service.
The next time 10/10/10 will occur on a Sunday is 400 years from now. And it may take another 400 years before the Princeton University campus will be graced with the likes of the recently deceased Marvin Bressler — the 87-year-old professor of social sciences emeritus, teacher extraordinaire, listener, storyteller, best friend, angst- catcher, and basketball team mentor whose memorial service took place at 3 p.m. on the afternoon of October 10, 2010.
A sociologist, specializing in higher education, Professor Bressler had helped to shape undergraduate life at Princeton University since the 1960s.
Among other things, these quirky numerology occurrences have been associated with life-changing transformations. The content of the numerous Bressler remembrances had a transformation theme — how Professor Bressler had changed the lives of students, colleagues, close friends and casual friends during the course of his lifetime.
I was not one of the Bressler groupies while he was alive. I became a convert after he died. As a Princeton University administrator for several years, I had interacted with Professor Bressler casually at various university receptions, as well as at gatherings in the home of Miguel Centeno, sociology and public affairs professor, who was one of the speakers at the memorial service. I actually attended the service to hear Miguel — also an exceptional teacher — eulogize the man who had shaped his career and personal life by introducing him to his wife, Deborah Kaple, another PU academic in the sociology department and a longtime close friend.
Thus, my interactions with Legend Bressler were mundane. I had never been touched by his renowned transformative teaching ability. Marvin considered me his “shrimp bowl” colleague. We often convened over the jumbo shrimp, which gave him the opportunity to ask me whether the shrimp was a relative of mine — a reference to my shrimp-like size. When I would respond that it was all relative, he would commence to act like my relative — my Jewish Mother in particular — and ask how come I’d never remarried. “Just because you are happy, doesn’t mean you should not remarry,” he would tell me with that glint in his eye, matching the shine from his Yul Brynner-like bald head.
I was not the only one, however, who got the Jewish Mother treatment. This was evident from the speeches and from the quotation buttons distributed at the memorial service — thanks to the initiative of Patrice Fernandez Kelly, his colleague in the Department of Sociology and Office of Population Research. Everyone attending the service got a button that boasted either a picture of Marvin or one of his oft-uttered quotations:
• ”A good education is the next best thing to a pushy mother.”
• ”A finished theory? Are you crazy? Don’t you want an academic career?”
• ”Go ahead. What is the worst that can happen?”
• ”Simplify — be a hedgehog.”
• ”I don’t call them as I see them. I call them as they are.”
• ”There is no crisis that academics won’t respond to with a seminar.”
A few other gems, not represented on a button, included:
• ”I want to outlive you because I will give a better presentation at your memorial service than you will give at mine,” as spoken to Charles Westoff, professor of demographic studies and sociology emeritus, who indicated that Marvin Bressler planned his own memorial service and picked the speakers, even providing their phone numbers for all the speakers.
• ”To discuss a question without settling the issue is better than settling the issue without discussion,” as spoken to former Princeton University president William F Bowen, referring to Marvin’s passionate belief in and commitment to education.
• ”On the scale of human suffering, where would you put this problem?.” a phrase referenced by a handful of ad hoc speakers, referring to Marvin’s response to people coming to him with academic dilemmas.
And then there were those zingers — always delivered with enough affection to prevent a mortal wound.
• ”I am so glad you never deceived yourself that you would become an intellectual.”
• ”Don’t say much; you are much better as a concept.”
Jon Solomon, writer and WPRB radio DJ whose interactions with Marvin were predominantly basketball related in the hallways of Jadwin Gym, is writing a book of Bresslerisms. As indicated by the hundreds at the memorial service, Jon’s biggest problem will be too many sources, rather than too few.
The Bressler celebration was relatively devoid of the phrase “Marvin would have liked this if he were here.” And that is because everyone attending felt that Marvin WAS there. Marvin Bressler to those who knew him never will be a has-been. He always will be an IS and the revered object of multiple wannabes. On the scale of human excellence, he ranks a 10 cubed.
A longtime resident of Princeton, Pam Hersh is vice president for government and community affairs with Princeton HealthCare System. She is a former managing editor of The Princeton Packet.

