We would like to inform the UWC Adriatic extended community that the funeral service for Mr. Sheiry will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 23 November at 12:00 PM (CET) in the Duino cemetery in San Giovanni di Duino (see map below).
If you wish to send your comments and memories of Mr Sheiry, feel free to use the online form available on this link.
We would like to share the words written about him by former student and current teacher Maria Canfora.
Elham Mohamed Sheiry, born in Cairo in 1938, was still just a child when his passion for knowledge, and mathematics in particular, set him apart from other children. In Primary School he had a teacher he described as phenomenal, who made such a lasting impression on him it inspired him to also become a teacher of his favorite subject after graduating from university.
As a teenager, Elham often explained mathematical procedures and the application of formulas to his peers and sometimes even helped his older brothers who were already at university. He was noticed by his teachers for the ease with which he was able to clarify what was asked of him, even though he himself had not yet studied the concepts he was explaining. His genius was also recognised when he went on to study at Cairo University. After completing his master’s studies and compulsory military service, he joined the mathematics department at Newcastle University (UK) where he completed a PhD and remained working at the university. Determined to follow in the footsteps of his legendary teacher, he gave up his university career to join the faculty of UWC Atlantic College in Wales. At Atlantic he met David Sutcliffe, who a few years later asked him to return from New York to teach at UWC Adriatic in Duino, where Sutcliffe was the founding Rettore.
Mr. Sheiry arrived in Duino in 1984, a year after the opening of the school, and became Head of the Mathematics Department, a position he held until his retirement in 2004. As Duino had become Elham’s home away from home, he decided to stay here after his retirement, surrounded by the College community and the people of Duino. In 2009 he was appointed Professor Emeritus of the College, the only one to date.
Teaching mathematics was his passion and he spared no efforts to help his students, even though he had a deep aversion to the administrative task teachers must tend to. He was always willing to offer additional mathematics lessons, an activity he continued until a few years ago, when his health meant this was no longer possible. There are words that will remain forever in his students’s memory, such as “I now give you a chocolate and then you are going to go”, because he often ended his lessons by handing out chocolates to his students.
Sheiry’s talent was not limited to mathematics. He had had learned Italian during a two-month intensive course in Perugia and had an outstanding command of the language, often correcting Italians or making specific reflections on the subtleties of the grammar by taking examples from newspapers and novels. His College colleagues in the Italian department were astonished by his in-depth knowledge of the language and the subtlety of the questions he asked.
For Sheiry, the laws of Mathematics and Logic were applied to all aspects of life, from music to philosophy, to politics. He entertained students, colleagues and duinesi with reflections on the correlations between the subjects over a cup of coffee or during his walks along the Karst paths. Sometimes, the reality of life escaped the precision of his schemes and his need to find solutions and explanations for a problem that was disturbing him, recently his health.
Sheiry had an astonishing memory for people and dates, his precision in dealing with everyday life challenges even made him answer the question “How are you today?” with a percentage. Chatting with him was a pleasure because of his refined sense of humour and also because of the way he had collected over the years a historical memory of places and characters in our community. His way of receiving and retrieving information made a computer pale in comparison.
Besides being a serial consumer of Diet Coke, Mr. Sheiry had invented his own coffee recipe, which the cafés in Duino called “Sheiry coffee”. He had a habit of having a cup several times a day, although the recipe has changed over the years. A series of very slow changes compared to his weight, which he had successfully halved in just one summer thanks to a self-imposed fast 6 days a week, making his neighbours mistake him for a relative of his.
Anyone who visited his house was struck by his large collection of books and encyclopaedias and his remarkable VHS collection on Detective Colombo, crammed into every corner of the house.
The comments left by his students, colleagues and duinesi on social media since his passing clearly show how much he was appreciated by all who knew him, even in his peculiarities. Elham Sheiry was an icon of village life and a symbol of the very strong link between the College and Duino. He will be missed.
