Douglas Braz - 1959 Freeport High School

For many of his more gifted high school students, Douglas Braz is a name that will always be remembered with great admiration, respect and affection. He was a brilliant mathematics teacher, passionate and quick-minded, who exposed those willing to pay attention to the beauty and majesty of the field. We were just silly teenagers, who looked at his threadbare black suits, rumors of living at home with his mother, and vague foreignness, with the kind of cruel humor that only kids that age can have, but there were some of us in his classes that understood his fine mind and appreciated him deeply for it, for he awoke in us an awareness of that numerical realm that has remained with us our entire lives. I would have loved that he could have lived longer so that I could have come back and shown him all that I accomplished in my life--at the highest levels--and some of that was because of his influence. Douglas Braz was born to Bernard Braz (1902 - 1984) and Loretta "Greta" Sillick (1914 - 1984). His father was born in New York and his mother was born in Pennsylvania. He had siblings Ronald (1940 - 2014) and Lawrence Braz (1947 - 2012). "Doug" had attended Freeport High School in Freeport, New York. His 1959 high school yearbook says "'Doug', a scientifically minded student, has devoted much of his time at F.H.S. to the Slide Rule Club and the Chess Club. He has also mastered the accordion. "Doug" hopes to become a mechanical engineer." There is no record of Doug having married. He died at age 56 from complications that arose after a heart transplant.