The Spirit of a Gift
The late Professor Albert Wertheim was the sort of teacher students never forget.
A department of English faculty member for over 34 years, Albert was a scholar of world theater. He loved to teach, even when it meant donning a costume donkey's head to illustrate a dramatic point. Such antics gave his students a good laugh, but their teacher's deep knowledge inspired them, too.
Larger than Life Outside the classroom, Albert was just as memorable to the people he valued most. When Indiana University Chemistry Professor Ted Widlanski and his wife, actor and director Martha Jacobs, came to Bloomington in 1989, they were immediately struck by Albert's wit, engaging spirit, and boundless interest in others.
Albert invited Ted to participate in the Bloomington intellectual community. Albert's enthusiasm for IU created friendships and engendered respect among colleagues. "He was expansive, and he made the people around him expansive," says Ted, who is also the CEO of IU Bloomington's life sciences initiative, METACyt. "He introduced you to other people from other fields and got you to understand what they did. And he made it interesting and stimulating."
Martha found that when you asked Albert for a favor, he would always give you more than you had requested. Once, she asked Albert if he would lecture after an upcoming performance in Indianapolis. He agreed without hesitation, but surprised Martha by showing up a few days early for dress rehearsal. "If Albert was going to talk about the production, he wanted to have the best possible understanding of it," she recalls. "In that way, he was just so generous with his time."
Passionate about People
Albert also served IUB well, particularly in his role as associate dean of Research and the University Graduate School, where he zealously sought the best funding opportunities for his colleagues. "He absolutely embodied the spirit of collegiality," says Ted.
None of this comes as a surprise to Albert's widow Judith Wertheim, a professor of Continuing Studies, who has served for the last two and a half years as interim dean of the School of Continuing Studies. Judith says this was always Albert's way.
"When Albert was in high school, one of his claims to fame was that he arranged for everyone to have dates for the prom," she recalls. "That's what he liked to do. He just liked getting involved with people."
Remembering a Friend
Albert passed away in April 2003. Moved by friendship, Ted and Martha thought that the most fitting way to honor their beloved friend was to respond to a critical need in his field. They endowed a fellowship in Albert's name for graduate students in English.
"For aspiring scholars in this area, a fellowship can mean the difference between getting a PhD or not," says Ted. "So we are putting our money where it is going to do the most good for students, the English department, and the University.
Judith says Albert lived the life he loved, and the Albert Wertheim Fellowship will help talented graduate students in the English department do the same. "That's one of the wonderful things about this gift," says Judith. "Ted and Martha are giving young people the kinds of opportunities that Indiana University is all about. And that Albert was all about."
