Tom Malin Rodgers

Thomas Malin Rodgers (August 1, 1943 — April 12, 2012) was an Atlanta-based businessman and puzzle collector who is remembered as the originator of the Gathering 4 Gardner (G4G) educational foundation, first conceived in 1992. Over the past three decades it hosted 14 biennial conferences for aficionados of the recreational mathematician and Scientific American columnist and writer Martin Gardner. Rodgers also edited 6 volumes of Martin Gardner tribute books, published by AK Peters. Rodgers' personal physical puzzle collection was legendary.

Gathering 4 Gardner

Legacy Part of Martin Gardner's genius was that he attracted a circle of collaborators whose synergy dramatically deepened the knowledge of the subjects that Gardner was writing about. Rodgers, like his mentor, carried on this tradition by founding the gathering. Neil Calkin of Clemson University in a tribute to Rodgers says:

Tom's contribution to the life of the mind has been that of a catalyst: to bring together hundreds of incredible people, to give them a forum to meet, to communicate, and to interact with amazing individuals from different disciplines, to form connections, and to inspire. In 2010, I described one day at the G4G9 as the best day I've had in my life so far.

Books Rodgers frequently collaborated with other members of the Gardner circle to edit tribute books about him.

1999 – The Mathemagician and Pied Puzzler: A Collection in Tribute to Martin Gardner, edited by Elwyn Berlekamp & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters), 2001 – Puzzlers' Tribute: A Feast for the Mind, edited by David Wolfe & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters), 2004 – Tribute to a Mathemagician, edited by Barry Cipra, Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters), 2008 – A Lifetime of Puzzles: A Collection of Puzzles in Honor of Martin Gardner's 90th Birthday, edited by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters), 2009 – Homage to a Pied Puzzler, edited by Ed Pegg Jr., Alan Schoen & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters), 2009 – Mathematical Wizardry for a Gardner, edited by Ed Pegg Jr., Alan Schoen & Tom Rodgers (AK Peters),