Joseph Massaro. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

Tributes

Remembering SPH’s Joseph Massaro, CAS’ Gustav Fritz Papanek and Merlin L. Swartz

Joseph Massaro
SPH Professor “Changed Lives”

JOSEPH. MASSARO, a School of Public Health professor of biostatistics, died October 19, 2022. He was 58.

Massaro (GRS’94) was a dedicated teacher who shepherded hundreds of students through Applied Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials I and II, winning several teaching awards in the process. Through his productive scholarship, enthusiastic guidance of students, and professional work as a biopharmaceutical consultant, Massaro’s fertile career touched all elements of SPH’s mission of “Think. Teach. Do.”

“His work embodied the standards of excellence that sustain all we do at SPH,” says Sandro Galea, SPH dean. 

Lisa Sullivan, SPH associate dean for education whose friendship and professional collaboration with Massaro began in the mid-1980s, remembers Massaro as “an incredibly dedicated” teacher and scholar whose passion for his field was an inspiration to all.

“He changed lives, but never took any credit,” says Sullivan (GRS’86,’92), a graduate school classmate. “He supported colleagues, but always under the radar. I feel so privileged to have known Joe and to be part of his amazing life. I will miss his incredible sense of humor and his kindness.”

Massaro received a BS in mathematics from Boston College in 1985, and completed his PhD in mathematics/statistics at BU in 1994. He joined the SPH biostatistics department in 1998.

Kimberly Dukes, executive director of the SPH Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center, first met Massaro in 1987 when both were mathematics graduate students. Massaro had a “magnificent brain,” says Dukes (Wheelock’’86, GRS’’89,’’02), and a knack for teaching that gave him the ability to “communicate hard concepts succinctly to his clients, colleagues, and students.”

Dukes and Massaro were also colleagues at Quintiles, a large biopharmaceutical research contractor that is now IQVIA. Massaro was an ideal colleague and collaborator with a gift for dealing with people as adeptly as he handled numbers. “Professionally he was on top, integrating kindness and humor into every situation, leaving you feeling like you couldn’t wait until the next encounter,” says Dukes. —Michael Saunders

Gustav Fritz Papanek
Specialized in Asian Economies

GUSTAV FRITZ PAPANEK, a College of Arts & Sciences professor emeritus of economics and former chair of the department, died on September 20, 2022, at 96.

Papanek was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 12, 1926. His mother was a physician and his father was a committed social democrat and educator who was forced into exile in 1935 as the impending storm approached in Germany and Austria. As Socialists and Jews, the family fled initially to France and, in 1940, to New York. 

His college years at Cornell University were interrupted by World War II; he enlisted in the army and was trained in the infantry and artillery until the army realized that a native German speaker was more valuable in military intelligence. He was deployed to Germany, where he assisted in finding Nazi war criminals. He was always proud of his military service. 

When he returned home, he graduated from Cornell and went on to study economics, earning a PhD from Harvard University. He took a job in the US State Department in Washington, D.C., working with the Agency for International Development. It was the height of the McCarthy era, and Papanek was fired for his socialist beliefs. He rebounded and returned to Harvard, studying income distribution, employment, and poverty in developing countries. He worked in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, advising governments on developing effective economic policies. He ultimately specialized in Asian economies, and was recognized as a pre-eminent expert on Pakistan and Indonesia. 

In 1974, Papanek came to BU as chair of economics. During his career, he trained two generations of economists who would go on to take leadership positions in their home countries. After achieving emeritus status at BU, he continued his consulting through his company, the Boston Institute for Development Economics. 

Merlin L. Swartz
Professor Emeritus of Religion

MERLIN L. SWARTZ, a College of Arts & Sciences professor emeritus of religion, died on February 21, 2022. He was 89.

Swartz earned a BA from Eastern Mennonite College (now University) in 1955. He studied at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and then attended Goshen (Mennonite) Biblical Seminary. During his time at Goshen, he took a leave of absence and, with his wife, Hilda Swartz (SSW’77), volunteered to do relief work among Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and southern Jordan with the Mennonite Central Committee. Swartz was a lifelong pacifist and a conscientious objector and performed this relief work as an alternative to military service. 

He then completed his studies at Goshen and, in 1967, earned a PhD from Harvard University. He taught at the American University of Beirut and the Near East School of Theology before returning to the US. He was a research fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies from 1970 to 1972. 

In 1973, Swartz became an associate professor of religion at BU. He later became a professor and the department chair. He taught at BU until 2008.