By Alex Gordon
HAIFA, Israel — On May 30, 2025, in Clifton, New Jersey, the brilliant Soviet and American physicist, Dr. Boris Vugmeister, passed away at the age of 77.
Boris was born on August 17, 1947, in Kiev. His father was a physics teacher, an expert and lover of Yiddish. His mother, a cellist in the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, was a close friend of the daughter of the outstanding Jewish poet David Hofshtein, who was executed by the Stalinist repressive machine in 1952 along with other members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
Boris was, like me, a graduate of the Faculty of Physics at Kiev University and worked for many years at the Kiev Institute of Materials Science Problems. He collaborated for a long time and productively with my late stepfather, a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor of Physics Mikhail Deigen. Boris was a talented scientist, an original thinker, a curious and persistent researcher. Upon arriving in the USA, during our joint work at Princeton University, Boris and I published three articles on biophysics.
Boris had a big and passionate Jewish heart, fervently interested in the problems of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. His interest in Judaism brought us closer together throughout our nearly sixty years of friendship. Boris was my constant interlocutor, advisor, inspirer, and in some way, a co-conspirator in my work in the field of Jewish thought and Jewish life. His death is my personal great sorrow. I lost a great friend who left a spiritual void in my life.
Boris was a man of great soul, a wonderful family man. He left behind a wife, a doctor of physics, a daughter, a doctor of biology, a daughter who is a professor of chemistry, and five grandchildren. We studied together, worked together, dreamed together, and shared our concerns for our Jewish people. I have suffered a tremendous, irreplaceable loss.
May the memory of this remarkable person be blessed!
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Alex Gordon is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Haifa and at Oranim, the Academic College of Education, and the author of 11 books.
We were friends with Boris Vugmeister since about 1998 when we met at Princeton University. Although working in different departments we became close friends ever since. We enjoyed debating with each other political issues, programming problems and simply spending time together.
He was a wonderful sole, smart man and very good friend. We are going to miss him dearly, Boris.
Boris and I met in Clifton, NJ when he and his wife Lena moved here. I didn’t know him like a physicist, but like a very kind, very charming, very friendly, sincere person. He endlessly loved his wife and his deeply talented and beautiful family. I felt his deepest pride and love to his grandchildren. He left a very deep impression on me like very special and very interesting man. He will be always in my memories.