They sat in chairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on a recent spring day, one a slight, white-haired woman exuding energy from every pore despite advancing years, the other a middle-aged man who every so often would look and lean over at the white-haired woman the way a bear tends her cubs. Ann Duffy and Cliff Lange had known each other for decades, but today in particular was a special day.

Forty years ago on that date, Duffy, CLAS ’48, MS ’53, then chairwoman of the math department for grades 7 through 12 in South Windsor, administered the high school’s honors trigonometry final – typically reserved for high-achieving juniors and seniors – to Lange when he was just an eighth grader at Timothy Edwards Middle School.

He got a 98.

When Duffy first met Lange as a sixth-grader at Timothy Edwards, she had already heard about his math exploits. She tracked his progress, watched him move seamlessly through advanced math classes, and gave him a booklet, “So You are Good at Math: Consider a Career as an Actuary.” Granted, he was just 13 and early to the rigors of career navigation. “I just thought I had a lucky day that day,” he said. “I didn’t understand I had a gift.”

Duffy did, though. She became Lange’s math mentor through high school, a young woman with a deep and determined certainty regarding math, teaching, and the promise of her students. She constructed a classroom wall chart for algebra titled “A Structure for Studying Algebra,” that became so popular she eventually copyrighted it. She wrote math textbooks. She piled her students into her Ford Mustang for trips to the Hartford Technical Institute to use the computers there. She started the high school’s first computer club, and was the first teacher known to introduce a computer to a Connecticut high school classroom when she brought one to South Windsor High.

She didn’t stop there: She returned to UConn for an MS in math education. “I always went for what I didn’t know but what I wanted to know,” she said. “I majored in math because I wanted to understand it.”

The administration noticed. When a new high school was built, Duffy moved to the new site as chair of the math department.

Her many projects included Lange. With her encouragement, he excelled, winning one math honor after another at South Windsor High award ceremonies. He chose UConn, graduated cum laude in 1979 with a math and actuarial science degree, and rose through the ranks of prominent companies such as Cigna, Price Waterhouse, GE Financial Assurance, Connecticut Mutual, and Blue Shield of California to become, most recently, vice president, CFO, and chief actuary at Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Massachusetts.

Duffy’s influence on his career – indeed, on his life – is palpable. “I wanted to live up to her positive expectations of me so I worked harder,” said Lange, who married a UConn alumna, Cindy Topazian. “What Ann had was a passion for students to realize their gifts, and she created the perfect environment for my gift to blossom. I believe she was the best math teacher in the country.”

He gazed at her affectionately and said, “I want to thank you for that, Ann.”

He said thank you in a bigger way for Duffy’s 80th birthday. He threw her a party, and about 80 people – peers, former students, friends – attended.

The outpouring of affection and the recognition that she had played a part in many lives humbled her. “I never thought of myself as being successful until that day,” she said. “I was so gratified by all of those people who showed up.”

Duffy minored in English as a UConn undergraduate, and continues to be an advocate for a liberal arts education for all schoolteachers. She has been giving to UConn for years as an Annual Fund donor and has included a bequest in her will as well.

“The mandatory liberal arts education at UConn was everything to me,” she says. “I’m so grateful UConn was here when I needed it.”

So is Lange. Just as Duffy passed forward her education to him, he visits the UConn campus frequently to share his experience and expertise with actuarial students. He focuses, too, on three skills he believes are fundamental to success: attitude, enthusiasm, and communication. And he supports UConn financially in a number of ways, including giving to the Actuarial Science Support Fund and the Charles I. Vinsonhaler Fund to honor his UConn advisor, professor, and friend.

As Lange sat in the CLAS office, contemplating his time in high school, he said, “If I hadn’t moved to South Windsor all those years ago …” His voice trailed off for a moment. Then he smiled at his former teacher and said quietly to the room at large, “A teacher can have a huge influence.”

To give to the Actuarial Science Support Fund or the Charles I. Vinsonhaler Fund in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, please contact the Foundation’s development department.