Paul Randall Dippolito

PAUL RANDALL (“RANDY”) DIPPOLITO, 65, a theoretical mathematician specializing in algebraic topology, died unexpectedly Wednesday, June 26, in Burlington, MA. Depending on the point in his life that you met him, you would have known him as Randall, Randy, Paul, Dippy, or even “Dip.” He was born in Boston, MA, and always had a place in his heart for his hometown of Weston, MA, where he lived in the “house next to the Dairy Joy.” He graduated in 1965 from Weston High and was a 1969 graduate of Kenyon College, where as a freshman he ranked 10th in a field of more than 2000 top math students in the country applying for the Putnam award sponsored by the Mathematics Association of America (www.maa.org/awards/putnam.html). He earned a doctorate in mathematics from Brown University, taught mathematics at Rice University, and was honored by an invitation to join the scholarly community at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton in 1977.

His life was forever changed in June 1979 by an automobile accident in Southern France after a post-doctoral year at the Institut des Haute Scientifiques, Paris, The accident left him with lasting injuries of left-sided paralysis and brain injury, cutting short his promising mathematics career. For more than 30 years, he bravely and even obstinately lived his life on his own terms, and his many friends can attest to his intelligence, his persistence, and his humor in meeting his many challenges. He complained only about the little things, and never about his condition or how he felt.

Post-accident, he made huge strides in recovery, teaching himself to walk again by studying physical therapy texts his sister would bring to him, and later driving long distances to see friends and family and even living on his own for a short period. He loved and understood music of all genres, often responding emotionally to a selection, and for many years enjoyed sight-reading the bass part for hymns at church until he felt he had lost his singing voice. He took great pride in his family, sharing with visitors the artwork in his room painted by his sister as well as each new photograph of his grandniece. Always one to enjoy a deep discussion, he had strong opinions but a high level of tolerance for the opinions of others. He avidly followed the stock market and world politics, rarely missing the 6 o’clock news on PBS. Often it seemed that he had a connection with another world and a reality separate from what most of us agree upon. But who are we to say that none of it existed? He will be sorely missed by a very large community, including the warm and caring people at Douglas House in Lexington, MA, where he had lived since 2008, and First Parish Lexington, where he took care to carefully analyze and rate each Sunday’s sermon and music program to friends.

He was the beloved son of the late R. Elizabeth Dippolito and the late Paul W. Dippolito of Weston, MA, and is survived by his devoted sister, Claudia L. Brookes, and her husband, Paul H. Brookes of Monkton, MD; his niece, Ashley Brookes Richardson, of Timonium, MD; his nephew, Jeff Brookes, and his wife, Karla Aghajanian Brookes, and his grandniece, Violet Katherine Brookes, of Baltimore, MD.

A memorial service will be held 10 am Saturday July 13, First Parish Lexington (7 Harrington Rd, Lexington MA 02420), with a reception to follow immediately after the service in the Church Hall.

Publications:

Codimensions One Foliations of Closed Manifolds, Ann. Math.107 (1978), 403-453.

Universal Bundles for Deformations of Asymmetric Structures, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 271 (1982), 101-115.

For additional information, tributes, and guest book, please visit www.duckett-waterman.com for Paul Randall Dippolito

Donations in his memory may be made to Supportive Living, Inc. http://www.supportivelivinginc.org/how-to-help/donations/

Supportive Living, Inc.

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Woburn, MA 01801

.Advocates, Inc.

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Advocates Inc.

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ates, Inc.

http://www.advocatesinc.org/Contact/ContactUs.php

Advocates Inc.

Attn. Development

One Clark’s Hill, Ste. 305

Framingham, MA 01702