Sad News: Max Chretien
July 18, 2019
Dear Colleagues,
I write to share the delayed sad news of the passing of Associate Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Max Chretien on July 1, 2019 at the age of 95. He is survived by his beloved wife Dagmar K. Chretien (nee Hulcrantz), his daughter, Karin E. Chretien, and his sister Ruth Chretien-Müller.
Max Chretien was in born Basel, Switzerland in 1924, received his PhD from the University of Basel in 1949, and was an Instructor in Physics at Columbia University before coming to Brandeis in 1956 as an Assistant Professor of Physics. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Physics with tenure in 1958. He was the head of the computer science division of the Physics department and lead, with Jacques Cohen, the effort to create a separate department of Computer Science that was initially located in the then Ford Hall. Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems Jacques Cohen said that Max recruited him to Brandeis in 1968 and that, “His offer changed my life.”
His colleague Professor Jim Storer shared that it was Max who recruited him to come to Brandeis in 1981 before the department of computer science was fully established. Jim states, “In those early years of our department in the 1980's and 1990’s, Max was a person that graduating students remembered as a great teacher and the one who conducted our graduation ceremony. My earliest memories of Max are as a welcoming and friendly department leader… Max and Jaques Cohen were the only tenured Computer Science professors, and they had recruited me after have recruiting Mitch Model and Ellis Cohen two years earlier…We moved to the Volen Center building when it was completed in 1994.”
Computer Science Professor Tim Hickey shared that Max “started teaching Computer Science courses in 1964 along with two other Physics faculty, Eugene Gross and Larry Kirsch. Students who majored in Math or Physics at that time were able to get a minor in Computer Science. When Jacques Cohen was hired in 1968 they expanded the offerings and in the Spring of 1973 a Concentration in Computer Science was approved and offered that Fall. The first CS majors graduated in 1975. Max Chretien was the undergraduate advising head for the department from its beginning until he retired in 1994. Max was known for his dry sense of humor. He focused his teaching on the Introductory Programming classes as well as popular classes in Computer Graphics and Computer Organization. He was a much beloved colleague and friend and we will miss him.”
An avid cross country skier and mountaineer, Max’s colleague Jacques Cohen captured the sentiment that I heard from many with the following statement, “Max was a true gentleman and a thoughtful colleague. We will all miss him.” A Celebration of Max's life will be held on Saturday, September 14th, at 2 p.m. in the Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street, (Rte. 20), Waltham. More information about Max and his family, including some very special photos, can be found at the obituary website.
I want to thank Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Marty Cohn who helped pull together these comments from members of the computer science department.
Sincerely,
Lisa M. Lynch, Provost