AS THE country’s mathematics community celebrated National Pi Day, one of its own constants said his final goodbye.

Professor Emeritus Jose Marasigan, PhD, or Doc Mara to his students and colleagues, passed away on March 14 due to kidney failure and heart complications.

Marasigan’s wake was held at the Immaculate Concepcion Chapel at Gonzaga Hall from March 15 to 18. A funeral Mass officiated by University President Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ at the Church of the Gesù preceded his internment at Heaven’s Gate Memorial Park on March 18.

The 71-year-old professor was highly-respected in the field of mathematics within and beyond the Ateneo.

Marasigan was an alumnus of the university, finishing BS Mathematics-honors cum laude in 1962. He started his teaching career as soon as he graduated.

He was one of the pioneering members of the Mathematics Department and served as its chair for 10 years.

Marasigan was the president of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines for two terms, during which he established the Philippine Mathematical Olympiad.

In 1988, he initiated the Philippines’ participation in the International Math Olympiad (IMO), the most prestigious mathematics competition in the world. He served as a team leader for IMO until 2005.

Mathematics Department Assistant Professor Richard Eden, PhD and his colleagues agree that Marasigan’s life held some mathematical significance up to the very last day.

“March 14, National Pi Day. Maaalala namin ‘yan kahit tanungin mo kami next year. (We will remember that even if you ask us next year.),” Eden said.

Being taught by a legend

“It is his passion that makes him a great teacher, and for this, we call him great,” said mathematics junior Rebecca Yu of her teacher for three of her major subjects.

Yu was part of the penultimate batch of students that Marasigan handled before his retirement in 2012.

She said that while age was taking a toll on Marasigan—he could barely navigate the stairs or curl his fingers around the chalk—his mind was “as sharp as ever.”

“There was no problem in Stewart or Leithold [textbooks] that he could not solve, even in his last year of teaching,” Yu said.

She also shared that before every long test they had, an average of five per semester, Marasigan would find time to help his students review.

“Our block crammed ourselves into the [Math] department for a few hours and fired questions at each other and at him. He answered each and every one of them.”

Yu said, “You don’t idolize people because of this one thing they did; you idolize them because of their life. Because of how Doc Mara lived, so many people love and continue to love Math.”

A different side of Doc Mara

Despite Marasigan’s silent demeanor, his colleagues from the Mathematics Department reveal that he was quite the prankster.

“He’s very playful, he likes teasing people,” said Mathematics Department Assistant Professor Agnes Garciano, PhD.

While he was not a fan of the joke, Mathematics Department Professor Emeritus Mari-Jo Ruiz, PhD fondly shares a story about how Marasigan dealt with a student sleeping in class. According to Ruiz, Marasigan asked his class to quietly leave the classroom and leave the sleeping student there. When the student woke up, the next class using the same room was already in session.

Meanwhile, Mathematics Department Associate Professor and Office of Admission and Aid Director Jumela Sarmiento, PhD tells another of Marasigan’s antics: He was giving a test when he had to leave for awhile to go back to the department. When he returned, he told the class, “May nagsabi sa akin na may nakakita sa inyo na nag-kokopyahan. (Someone told me that you were seen copying from each other).” At the end of the test, someone approached him and apologized.

Sarmiento shared the last line with a laugh. “Pero ang totoo, wala namang may nagsabi [na may nag-kokopyahan] (The truth is, no one really told him that his students were cheating).”

Sarmiento also said that Marasigan loved traveling and eating. “Kahit nahihirapan siyang maglakad, mahilig siyang magplano ng outing (Even if he had difficultly walking, he enjoyed planning outings).”

Generativity

Mathematics Department Assistant Professor Flordeliza Francisco, PhD also explained that when Marasigan saw potential in a student, even at the high school level, he would help bring them into the Ateneo for training.

“He’s (Marasigan) really good at discovering and nurturing talents,” Francisco said.

True to his personal cause, Marasigan spearheaded the Program of Excellence in Mathematics (PEM) in 1989.

The program aims to discover and train mathematically gifted high school students. It also serves as a platform for identifying and preparing future IMO participants.

The PEM was initially launched as a project of the Department of Science and Technology. However, it has been a sole project of the Ateneo Mathematics Department since 2005.

Aside from his various projects, Marasigan’s legacy in mathematics is also carried on by his students.

Francisco expressed, “Marami kaming nagtuturo dito [sa Ateneo] because of him (There are many of us who teach here in the Ateneo because of him).”

Some of Marasigan’s former students who also became his colleagues in the Mathematics Department are Eden, Francisco, Sarmiento, Associate Professor and School of Science and Engineering Dean Evangeline Bautista, PhD, Professor Queena Lee-Chua, PhD, Associate Professor Ian Garces, PhD and Professor Catherine Vistro-Yu, EdD.

With reports from Billy B. Poon