Professor Robert W. Case

CASE, Robert W. “Professor Case”. Of Boston, died peacefully on January 15, 2026, surrounded by his loving family.

Bob Case and his wife, Osla de Figueiredo-Case, underwent life-threatening illnesses in 2004 and 2005. They survived these and were blessed with an immensely joyful chapter added to their life, becoming involved in agricultural and renewable energy projects among the poorest people in India, Haiti, and Central America. Their travels took them to many grim reminders of the failings of the past century, as well as to multiple centers of justice and hope for the future. Participating in a permaculture design course on the side of a volcano in Nicaragua, they got to know farmers from around the world who were fifty years their juniors.

In all of this, Bob couldn’t have imagined a better partner than Osla: compassionate, perceptive, fiery against injustice, and most of all, always seeking God’s plan.

The extra time granted to Bob and Osla gave them the chance to marvel at their children, Fabiola and Alex, and to form special bonds of love and joy with their grandchildren: Fabiola’s daughters Briana and Darah (an angel taken from this world at age 19), and Alex and daughter-in-law Tania’s children, Matthew and Tiah. It was a special joy to have spent so much time with Matthew and Tiah as they grew! Briana’s Alex and Michael are Bob and Osla’s great-grandsons.

Robert Case was born in 1932 to Reider Case and Theresa Delconte Case. His cherished younger sister, Barbara Case Carberry, and her husband, Robert Carberry, raised their three children in St. Augustine, Florida.

Reider and Theresa died in an accident in 1945, and Bob and Barbara were raised by Aunt Jean Delconte Killeaney and their Grandmother Agnes Case and Aunt Laura Delconte, with the support of Frank Killeaney and many relatives. Bob graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1949.

He joined the Benedictine community of St. Anselm Abbey. Though he came to see that the life of a priest and monk was not the one he was destined for---he left the Order in 1970—the monastic experience had provided the foundation for his future. Bob received a bachelor’s degree from St. Anselm College, a Master’s Degree from Fordham, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Yeshiva University.

Bob found his calling in the teaching of mathematics. For fifty-two years and among thousands of young people across the decades, most of them at Northeastern University, he engaged with students in the discovery of “the great book of the philosophy of the universe, which stands open for all of us to read, a book which is written, however, in the language of mathematics”(Galileo). The joy and enthusiasm of teaching consistently energized and illumined his work, brighter even than the teaching awards, which included the Haimo Prize of the Mathematical Association of America.

Of special significance to Bob was the growing realization that mathematics education plays a central role in the quest for social justice. That young people, especially students of color and urban low-income children, are often excluded from rigorous mathematics in high school means that their choices of college, majors, and careers are severely restricted. Society suffers because these students’ gifts and potential are stifled. With colleagues in the Mathematics Department of Northeastern University, especially Donald King, a structure of outreach to Boston’s schools, teachers, and students was established, stretching over decades. Many Boston students traverse this structure, going on to remarkable success in engineering, science, and medicine.

Bob and Osla Case have been part of the fabric of a legendary district, the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, and with friend and colleague Rosaria Salerno and activist Dave Scondras, with Joyce Ellis and so many others, became members of an evolving community fighting for the Fenway’s historic identity, diversity and affordability.

There are a lot of ups and downs in our brief sojourn on this little blue planet. Bob was aware of his shortcomings and failures but took great consolation in the insight of Sigrid Undset in the final pages of her novel, Kristin Lavransdatter: that our sins and misdeeds come from us weak humans, and God can wipe them entirely away; whereas our good deeds are God’s work: “none is good saving God only…..the good you have done cannot be undone. Though all the hills shall crash in ruin, yet would it stand”.

Family and friends will honor and remember Bob’s life by gathering for a visiting hour in St. Cecilia Church, 18 Belvidere Street, Boston, on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at 10:00 A.M. Followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:00 A.M.