Adam Bincer

MADISON/ FT. MYERS, FL. - Adam Marian Bincer passed peacefully in his sleep Tuesday, November 8, 2016, in Fort Myers, Florida, at the age of 86 after a courageous battle with cancer.

Adam was born in 1930 in Krakow, Poland, to parents Henryk and Renata Bincer and his sister Krysia. His family, like many middle-class Jews, had assimilated to being Polish. Nonetheless, when German Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, the family was targeted, so Adam and his family escaped from Poland and fled on a lengthy, dangerous, and arduous journey through the Soviet Union and Asia. Six years later, after the war had ended, the family made their way back to Europe.

They stayed a year in Sweden while awaiting visas to Brazil, where an uncle could vouch for them. Adam obtained work in a radio factory in Stockholm. He also met a beautiful young Polish woman who would later in life become his wife.

In Brazil, Adam continued his studies while working again at a radio factory. A bright young man, and now 19 years old, Adam sought and won a scholarship to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he studied Mathematics and Physics. Adam, who already spoke Polish, Russian, and Portuguese, rapidly added English to his repertory.

At MIT, he met Bibi Margulies, one of the few women enrolled at the competitive school, and also a survivor of the war, a native of Vienna, Austria. They married and had two children, Andrea and Ronnie. Later Adam and Bibi divorced.

Many years later, Adam eventually reconnected with Wanda Lawendel, the Polish Jewish survivor he had met in Stockholm as a teenager. Although the young couple fell in love after the war, they had been forced to go their separate ways in order to emigrate with their families. When they both realized each other was divorced, a new wedding was immediately planned and they were wed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1972. Wanda brought three children from previous marriages into their new family, Yvonne, Brian and Michael, whom Adam always treated as his own children.

Adam's career in teaching and research was eminently successful. He earned his PhD in Physics at MIT, went on to do post-doctoral research at UC-Berkeley, then obtained a professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a post in which he remained until retirement. Although his focus was research, he taught a select group of graduate students who found Adam to be a caring and witty professor in a sometimes challenging field.

Adam was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sé�o Paolo and during his career as a theoretical physicist at UW-Madison he enjoyed sabbatical appointments at Duke University in North Carolina and McGill University in Montreal. Adam authored countless academic papers and translated physics journal articles from Russian to English for the American Institute of Physics. When he retired, he authored a book drawn from his experience in teaching mathematical physics.

Adam was a skilled sailor, first at MIT and later at UW-Madison, and often finished in the top three in sailing races. Adam enjoyed tennis, crossword puzzles, Scrabble, reading mysteries, tracking the stock market, listening to opera and folk music, and watching his favorite sports teams, especially the Badgers and Packers. With his wife Wanda, he co-founded the Central Wisconsin chapter of Parents of Murdered Children in 1983 after Yvonne was murdered.

Later in life, Adam proudly returned to Poland with his children to share with them his heritage and history. Adam and Wanda moved to Florida in their retirement, where they appreciated the warmer climate and relaxed time together. Adam lost his beloved wife--and teenage sweetheart--Wanda to illness eight years ago.

Adam is survived by his sister Krysia Arnhold, by children Andrea Hayward and husband William Hayward, Ronnie Bincer, Brian Lavendel and wife Kimberly Wilson, Michael Schlicht and wife Anneke Schlicht, as well as grandchildren Shannon Hayward, Sean Hayward and his wife Jill Hayward, Ellyn Schlicht, Amy Schlicht, Lea Lavendel, great-grandchildren Emily Hayward and Alexis Hayward. He is also survived by his nephew Ivo and his wife Helena and their son Patrick and his wife Ana and their daughter Julia; and his nephew Stefano and his wife Luci and their children Mirella and Caio and his wife Ana.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the University of Wisconsin Wonders of Physics Program http://wonders.physics.wisc.edu/donate.htm or the Bernice Durand Undergraduate Research Scholarship Fund https://www.physics.wisc.edu/donate/funds , emphasizing women and minorities.

The family wants to express our gratitude to Kathy McCloskey who was a friend and caregiver for Adam during his battle against cancer.
A funeral service will be held at 10:15 AM on Friday Nov. 11, 2016 at FOREST HILL CEMETERY GRAVESIDE with Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman presiding. Visitation will be from 9:30 AM until 10:00 AM on Friday at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd. Madison. Burial will be at Forest Hill Cemetery.

Cress
Funeral and Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
608-238-3434