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Truman S. Klein Truman S. Klein, 1902-1994, by John
Riedesel. Truman S. Klein, for whom this old math book
collection is named, was dedicated to teaching mathematics to the
young people of Maryland, in particular Prince George’s County, in a
career spanning four decades and involving classroom teaching,
administration, and supervision. Mr. Klein was born in Frederick County, Maryland,
on December 30, 1902, but spent most of his early years in Union
Bridge, Carroll County.
He graduated in 1925 from the University of Maryland with a B.A.
degree in mathematics, doing subsequent work at Columbia University,
and attaining the M.A. level. His first teaching assignment was at Pokomoke City
in Worcester County, Maryland, but in the late 1920s he came to
Prince George’s County, where he taught mathematics at several
schools including Suitland High School, and held principalships at
Surrattsville School (all grades) and Bladensburg High School.
In the late 1950s he was named Prince George’s County’s first
Supervisor of Mathematics under a program of the National Defense
Education Act, a position in which he served with distinction until
his retirement in 1968. Mr. Klein brought professionalism and cohesion to
the teaching of mathematics in Prince George’s County.
He had a profound appreciation for mathematical developments
of the past, but was also open to the best of experiments and
endeavors of contemporary math.
His tenure as supervisor came at a time when much thought and
effort was being put into reorganizing the teaching of mathematics,
both in pedagogy and content.
Under his supervision, Prince George’s County participated in
the UMMaP Project of the University of Maryland, and he insisted
that his teachers be knowledgeable and conversant in the programs
and experiments of other schools as well.
He incorporated into the curriculum the best of “modern
math,” while avoiding its excesses. He was a superb and humble mathematician, an
excellent teacher who taught with great knowledge and fascinating
pedagogy, and was looked up to by his students and colleagues.
As a supervisor he always sought the best both in and for his
teachers. He respected
them and involved them frequently in the decision-making process.
He was far more interested in the welfare and mathematical
accomplishments of his students and teachers than in seeking his own
glory. Mr. Klein died on October 16, 1994, in Washington
County, Maryland, at the age of 91.
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