Paul Davidson Sherman

Paul D. Sherman passed away peacefully in Boynton Beach, Florida on January 17, 2025, at the age of 91. He was predeceased by his parents Leo and Riva, his sister Judith, and his wife Rachel. He leaves behind his three children Karen (Steve), David (Ferna) and Marc (Orly), his grandchildren, Gadi, Benjamin, Sammy, Maya and Ellie, and his nephew Sebastian. Paul was a loving father, grandfather, and uncle and will be greatly missed.

Paul was born in New Rochelle, NY on June 17, 1933, and grew up there until he left the area after high school to attend Tufts University. As an inquisitive and creative youngster, Paul paved his own path and rather than follow his father into a career in the law, he pursued his own passions for science and history.

After graduating from Tufts, he went on to earn an MS from Purdue University and then a PhD in History of Science from Imperial College of London. He worked as an engineer at IBM early in his career, then taught physics at Harrison High School and history of science at Pace University. Paul loved teaching and fostered enthusiasm in his students by coming up with innovative, fun experiments and hosting backyard barbecues for them at his home with his wife and family.

In addition to teaching, Paul wrote numerous scholarly articles and was the author of a textbook entitled History of Color Vision in the 19th Century, which would have ranked high on a best-seller list for nerdy esoterica. Perhaps less famously, he was also the official family grammar police.

When not immersed in his science journals and history books, Paul enjoyed classical music, Gilbert and Sullivan and Shakespeare. Not limited to such high-brow entertainment, he also loved Mad Magazine, salacious limericks, and he enjoyed torturing his children and grandchildren with painful dad-jokes.

As a talented amateur photographer, he developed photos in his own darkroom when he was a teenager and later mastered digital photography and Photoshop. He was a lifelong tennis player and an avid skier. While he was no Olympian and considered himself lucky to return from any ski trip with all his bones intact, he loved the deep powder in Utah and hit the slopes well into his 70’s.

Paul tried to live his life to its fullest. Though proud of his nerdiness, he was also a fearless man who loved adventure and new experiences. After college, he traveled by car across the US with friends, stopping along the way to work on wheat harvests in the Midwest in order to earn money for gas. Eventually, he and his pals made it to California, where he worked briefly at the newly-opened Disneyland. He later went solo to India, Europe and Israel, taking along his beloved Vespa and braving the insane traffic in Rome, Athens and Tel Aviv.

Paul was a patriotic American. Unfortunately, his insistence on buying American required him to become a very capable mechanic in order to keep his cars roadworthy in the 1970s. He was a political moderate who sought in US leadership the rare qualities of strength, integrity and common sense. His values were deeply rooted in Judaism, and he enriched his faith by studying the Talmud and great Jewish sages – especially Maimonides, who was also part scientist, part philosopher.

Above all, Paul was a loving dad and grandpa. He inspired us and made us better people and, after a long, full life, left us with a rich trove of memories.

Donations in his name may be made to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.