Dr. Stanley Mazer, professor and chairman of the Allied Human Services at Baltimore City Community College, died in Baltimore, Maryland on January 13, 2003 after an extensive battle against infection following a kidney transplant. At age 68, he had been a member of the APSA for more than 25 years. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Dr. Marianne Githens, TODD Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, sons Jeffrey Mazer of Chicago, Jonathon Githens Mazer of London, England, daughters Sharon Mazer Nealon of Gort Lauderdale, Florida and Julie Mazer Lee of Parkston, Maryland, as well as one granddaughter, Rachel.

Professor Mazer, along with his wife Marianne, was a regular participant in annual APSA program deliberations for the past three decades and served on the APSA Departmental Chairpersons Committee.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, July 20, 1934, Stanley earned his undergraduate degree from Braudeis University in 1956, followed by a Masters in Social Work from Adelphi and Doctorate in Urban Education from the University of Maryland-College Park. Most of his professional life was spent in Baltimore—a city he grew to love and serve.

His initial position was as a social worker at the Jewish Community Center in the early 1960s. By 1963 he was hired by then-Mayor Phillip H. Goodman as the city's first director of human renewal, with the task of focusing attention on people displaced by urban renewal programs. By 1965 he had become director for neighborhood development for the Community Action Agency.

As he joined the ranks of academia, Stanley brought a wealth of experience from his years in community welfare and development. During those community action years he was reported to have often “tangled with” fellow welfare officials and other decision makers as he pushed for a law that would prohibit “renting inadequate houses to welfare recipients” thereby supporting slum lords and disagreed with a site chosen for the location of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County because it would “hold down” African-American students. As a public administrator, he was widely regarded as having a great empathy and concern for people who were disadvantaged. He often spoke of the need for government to step in to make life different for those who did not have much in terms of worldly goods.

At Baltimore County Community College, Mazer served as a classroom teacher, departmental chair, Dean of the Social Services Division, and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Colleagues describe him as an excellent educator with real vision and a knack for looking at and relating issues to course content. His expectations of students were said to be “high” and he gave them vision and purpose. They also labeled him “all inclusive—having the ability to bring people of diverse cultures and interests together.”

Dr. Mazer served on the APSA's Departmental Chairperson's Committee; his work with that committee represents a successful venture in bridging the gap between political education in community colleges and four-year institutions.

Friends and acquaintances recall Stanley's special warmth and charm with persons of all ages, even upon first encounters. He could put persons at ease, individually or collectively. This trait served him and his institution well in efforts to reach an urban student clientele. He frequently walked his dog through the park and handed out applications to the unemployed sitting on benches. Choosing to live in older homes in the City of Baltimore, Mazer stated, “I have found that most cities worry about facades, the main streets. The way to evaluate a city, I think, is from the back—go to the alleys for a true test of its strength.”

Dr. Mazer spent his free time drawing, painting, and doing sculpture. These works of art are found throughout his home.

One student, commenting on Stanley's death, in a letter to Marianne, wrote, “Stanley Mazer made a choice about how to live and through his passing leaves and incredible void, believers and skeptics alike saw a vision of what is possible when one lives what one believes. Your husband clearly built bridges, tore down walls and in so doing, changed lives.”

On a personal note, Stanley was a warm and engaging friend, and excellent and accommodating host, and a loving, supportive husband, in addition to his role as an able social science scholar, competent innovative academic administrator, and an extraordinary human being. He was a man of great passion and quick wit.

When one spent an evening of discussion and interaction with Marianne and Stanley at home, one experienced not only and interesting and engaging exchange, but also a kind of examination of a variety of issues and concerns covering the total human experience.

James J. Prestage, a retired University Chancellor who knew Mazer as a personal friend and professional educator for more than two decades, states: “He exhibited a type of charisma seldom seen among us. He fostered love for all mankind without seeking or expecting a return.”

In one of his last meetings with one of his classes, Professor Mazer shared with his students some of his profound thoughts about “What he would want us to be for one another in our efforts to live as God's people.”

He wrote, in part:

This was life as Stanley Mazer lived it. His example will be greatly missed—but will hopefully serve as a model for young scholars.