What will Hal Mason miss most about former headmaster Bob Weintraub, who retired last June?

“He’s a terrible golfer,” the assistant headmaster said. “He thinks he’s great; he still carries clubs that he maybe hit well 30 years ago, and he thinks he can still hit with them. The thing I miss most about Bob is taking his money when I play golf with him.”

Before she arrived in Brookline as a staff member, Dean Diane Lande attended several meetings here as a representative of her former school, Lexington High. It was at one of these meetings that she was first introduced to Weintraub.

“I remember him in that meeting in the way that he was sort of swept in, like this famous person,” Lande said. “We had to meet him and then he was taken away.”

In contrast, Mason formed a different first impression of the man in charge when he met Weintraub during his interview process two years ago.

“What was my first impression of Dr. Bob? Bad footwear,” Mason said, then added, “You know, he seemed like a really intense person, very passionate about his school.”

According to Lande, Weintraub, now a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, was one of the colleagues here in Brookline who had the biggest influence on her approach to her career.

“He helped to communicate a way of working with kids, parents and teachers that engaged everyone in a process of mutual understanding,” Lande said. “There was never an environment of us against them, whether it was teachers against parents or teachers against kids; rather, we’re all in this together.”

According to Mason, Weintraub was the most inspirational and motivational person he had ever worked with in a school.

“Dr. Bob was always engaged and always thinking about the larger picture of the school that he wanted to create,” said Mason.

School Within a School English teacher Abby Erdmann echoed this sentiment.

“There are people who can do relationship well, but can’t do policy well, or don’t do program well, or vision,” said Erdmann. “Bob had all of them. You know, Bob’s favorite book was Good to Great. BHS was good when I got here. I think he made it good to great.”

Though they did not always agree with him, Mason, Lande and Erdmann all feel that Weintraub had an overwhelmingly beneficial influence on the school, taking everything in stride, then doing what he felt would ultimately be best for all.

“Never did he get negative about anything that happened, whether it was a mess in the hallway, a fire alarm pulled or an allegation of misconduct,” said Lande. “Everything was just an opportunity to figure it out and move forward.”

What does Lande believe Weintraub brought most to the school?

“I think loving everyone, seeing the best in people, always bringing out the best in himself and always being energetic and engaged,” the dean said. “He is a constant role model for all of us being our best selves every day.”

Chemistry teacher Steve Lantos viewed Weintraub both as a personal friend and as a supportive, trusting and deeply invested colleague.

“Bob was our collective cheerleader, academic guide, authority figure, visionary and friend,” said Lantos. “I miss him a whole lot.”

Math teacher Lisa Redding said, “Personally, I really just felt that he supported me. He supported what I did in the classroom and he cared about me in and outside the classroom. He was known for writing little notes. And it’s just little things, but it makes you feel good. He always took the time to acknowledge and appreciate what you do.”

Erdmann agreed, adding that Weintraub treated the school community like a family. She considers Weintraub to be one of the two headmasters, along with former 1970s headmaster Carmen Rinaldi, who have profoundly affected the community during her time here.

“He always put into every speech, ‘my Brookline family,’” said Erdmann. “There was an intensity to the way he related to people that we are probably more familiar with seeing in our families than in our halls.”

Redding cited Weintraub’s lasting collaboration with the 21st Century Fund, a program which the former headmaster established in order to pioneer experimental approaches to education at the high school, as one of his greatest accomplishments on the school’s behalf.

“Brookline, before Dr. Bob, was definitely known throughout the state as an excellent school, so it already had a great reputation in Massachusetts,” Redding said. “But programs created under Weintraub’s 21st Century Fund initiative helped put Brookline on the national map as an innovative school that does anything and everything to help kids. Dr. Bob was willing to go to bat to fight for kids and what was right for them.”

Lantos recalled Weintraub as being “focused on the mission of schooling for all children. His ‘C’mon, everyone, we’re here to do school and do it well!’ attitude was part of everything he did around the place.”

Erdmann said, “Bob was everywhere. I mean, you couldn’t believe there weren’t six or seven Bobs.”

Mason said that he thought Weintraub’s lasting contribution to the school was that he hired extremely well.

“The people that are in this school now are excellent. You really have a really, really strong staff, and that makes a huge difference,” Mason said.

Redding believes that Weintraub’s mantra of freedom with a social consciousness is what will continue to make the high school so unique.

“We have to look out for one another, look out for this building and take care of the place,” said Redding. “Dr. Bob really hammered that home, and I feel like we all buy into that, live by that and try to keep his legacy going.”

Clara Dorfman can be contacted at [email protected].