Th person killed when his bicycle collided with a vehicle in Upper Darby last week was a former Swarthmore College math professor.
Eduard “Teddy” Einstein, who died in a crash Dec. 3 on Providence Road, joined Swarthmore’s Mathematics & Statistics Department in 2022 as a visiting assistant professor. In that three-year role, he taught courses in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and abstract algebra.
Einstein leaves behind a wife and two young children.
A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for funeral expenses as well as medical and legal costs related to the crash.
Suzanne Thornton, the organizer of the GoFundMe said Einstein was a beloved husband to Ruth Fahey and father to 6-year-old Charlie and 2-year-old Lorcan. He was dedicated to his family, she said.
Friends remember his warmth, his wit and generosity.
Einstein was passionate about bicycling and worked to make the Philadelphia area safer for cyclists, as well as brewing beer, cooking, and hosting parties, the GoFundMe site said.
Supporters are attempting to raise $50,000 to support his wife and by Wednesday night 240 donors had given nearly $48,000 to that goal.
Swarthmore staff reacted with sadness as Provost Richard Wicentowski shared the sad news to the community in a letter on Wednesday.
Professor and Chair of Mathematics & Statistics Lynne Steuerle Schofield said Einstein was a “promising young mathematician whom we were lucky to have in our department. We are all heartbroken at this news.”
Assistant professor of mathematics Allison Miller remembers Einstein as “passionate about sharing the beauty of theoretical mathematics” and for having had a “particularly strong impact on students by leading multiple summer research projects.”
In addition to maintaining his own research with a regular stream of publications, Einstein also had research students every summer while he was at Swarthmore.
Einstein was born in Santa Monica, Calif., and received a B.A. in mathematics from Pomona College in 2010, an M.A. in mathematics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2012, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University in 2018.
Before coming to Swarthmore, he held postdoc positions at the University of Illinois and the University of Pittsburgh.
Wicentowski said that in recent weeks, Einstein had just finished the final and most challenging pieces for two separate research projects that had each been the culmination of years of effort, and that he felt represented the best work of his career.
Each manuscript is now being handled by various collaborators so they can be submitted for posthumous publication under his name.
Pat Devlin, a visiting assistant professor in math at Swarthmore who became close with Teddy said his death is a tragedy.
The two professors were hired together and they bonded on shared stories of fixing up old houses. He said Teddy rode his bike to work every day, taking a cautious route from West Philadelphia to Swarthmore.
He had an in-person job interview for a university scheduled and was really excited about, Devlin said. On the day of the accident, he visited a barber shop that he liked in Swarthmore and Devlin believes the collision happened on the way home.
“His wife knew it must have been on his way home because of his haircut,” Devlin said. “It was the same bike route that he took twice a day for years while working here.”
Devlin said Teddy wore every possible reflective and illuminated piece of protective gear and his death was a tragedy that could have been avoided.
“He took safety seriously, he was always covered in reflective gear. It was a tragedy,” Devlin said. “He was doing everything right. Someone turned into him at the intersection.”
Devlin said that while some folks may dislike bikers on the roadway, they have every right to be there and officials need to make area roadways safer for everyone.
“The tragedy, a life and career cut short, its unacceptable,” Devlin said.
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said the 18-year-old who was driving the vehicle that struck Einstein remained on scene and was cooperative with the investigation. Police have not said if he will face any charges.