For over 30 years Ole has been a powerful influence on the discipline of mathematics education, particularly with his work around critical mathematics education, about which he felt and wrote passionately. He had written so much it was often difficult keeping up with his output. I personally have 8 of his books on my bookshelves; It was only a month ago he completed the first draft of a book that he wanted to write for mathematics teachers. 

I first came across Ole at ICME8 in Seville in 1996. The week before at PME20 in Valencia Tony Cotton and I had decided to organise a Mathematics Education and Society Conference, and Ole was one of the first colleagues we invited to give a Plenary Keynote Lecture. He gave a talk about “The problem of democracy in mathematics education”. Thirty years later, this is still a pertinent topic, and one he was still focused on. For that we will miss him. 

Ole contacted me on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 2:11 pm – I still have the email. He asked: 

“All my publications in English go through a language revision. For the moment I am without a language revisor. Do you know anybody that could be interested? I prefer very much that it could be for a longer period so the person comes to know my style and what I’m writing about. And not to make any confusion: I’m not imagining you to do such a job, just asking if you know anybody.” 

What could I say – the chance not just to get to see Ole’s work before anyone else did, but to get a chance to collaborate a little and make some observations. I of course offered and this began a 17-year arrangement where I proof-read everything that he published, including his two recent books. Yes, I did learn about his style, including his occasional quirks. But in addition, I learned so much from him. I felt very privileged to have been given that opportunity but was also very honored that in those times I wandered outside of my brief and commented (even occasionally disagreeing!), he responded both graciously and with a desire to engage deeply. That will be my memory of a great man, a lovely, thoughtful and compassionate man, but also a colleague and friend. 

In 2017, I was invited to give a keynote address at the symposium “Meaningful Learning of Mathematics: A Perspective from Different Angles” in Bremen, Germany. I had just received my PhD and was shocked to learn that Ole and Miriam would also be giving keynote lectures at the symposium. Needless to say, I felt a bit under-qualified and intimidated. However, those feelings quickly faded away after I met Ole. He engaged with my work as thoughtfully and deeply as if I were his peer and immediately made me feel like I belonged. His joy and enthusiasm for the work was contagious, and we all had a great time thinking about meaningfulness in math learning both in symposium sessions and over food and drinks. I left Bremen feeling so fortunate that I had gotten the chance to meet and learn from Ole – not only about his research but also about how to make a new scholar feel truly welcome and valued. I am left with nothing but the fondest memories of Ole and send condolences to his loved ones. 

Ole was honoured on 7th March 2025 in Copenhagen at the Danish national conference on mathematics education at the Danish School of Education, where Ole got his PhD degree in 1982 and later served as a Professor. I’ve been thinking a lot about Ole these days—a big-hearted and warm person. I remember his sorrowful paintings from the late 1980s and how, over time, they became more joyful. 

I remember, I first met Ole in 1979 when, as a PhD student, he presented his early thoughts on critical mathematics education to Mogens Niss and master’s students at Roskilde University. Later, I had the opportunity to pursue a PhD myself and followed Ole to the very first conference on Political Dimensions of Mathematics Education in London in 1990. 

I also remember how Ole taught us, as young PhD students, to find joy even in everyday tasks like washing dishes. He (tried to) teach us to wait until after lunch to check emails, to take a walk when deep thinking was needed, and to approach the evaluation of students’ assignments and PhD dissertations with openness and curiosity. During one of my first assessment tasks at the Royal Danish School of Education—now the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University—alongside Ole, I recognized a quarter-page of text from our colleague Morten Blomhøj, without quotation marks or references. I wasn’t pleased. But Ole simply said, “The student must have thought that Morten expressed it very well.” 

I often recall him saying, “If we look at concepts in a different way, what new things can we discover?” and “We must remain open to new insights, and if it helps to sprinkle sand on the classroom floor, then we should do it.” 

I continue to pass on his wisdom to students and younger colleagues in Denmark and to engage in issues of Mathematics Education and Democracy. Although I was saddened when Ole decided to move—first to Aalborg University and later to Brazil—I was also grateful that his inspiration could reach an even wider global audience. 

I was happy to celebrate Ole at his 65th birthday in Aalborg in 2009 and later to contribute to the 2010 Festschrift for Ole, where I reflected on his early inspiration from the Frankfurt School and my own work on amplifying students’ voices in critical mathematics education in Lindenskov, L. (2010). Student’s Curriculum in critical mathematics education. In: H. Alrø, O. Ravn, P. Valero (Eds.) Critical Mathematics Education: Past, Present and Future, p. 121-132. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 

Such sad news. After a magnificent struggle Ole was finally defeated by death. He was a wonderful man and the world has not yet recognised the last immense gifts he gave us with his recent books Critical Mathematics Education (2023) and Critical Philosophy of Mathematics (2024), both written in the teeth of serious illness, as well as has many other books, papers, presentations, teachings, paintings and love and friendships. 

In the few weeks since his untimely death I and his other friends, colleagues and family too, have had time to reflect not only on our heart stopping loss, but also on the sheer extent of Ole’s achievement over the 80 years of his life. What a giant of a man, who combined wisdom, a very humane outlook, great caring friendships, and an incomparable depth of knowledge and groundbreaking, original understanding. His work on critical mathematics education and critical philosophy of mathematics are intellectual milestones that will live on; surviving and shaping these fields of research long after we are gone. 

Ole was a really good friend, a very important researcher who progressed the field of critical mathematics education deeply, changing it beyond recognition, and a wonderful human being. On each of these scores I and many, many others will deeply mourn his loss. Although a ground breaking innovator in both critical mathematics education and the philosophy of mathematics Ole was always humble, sharing credit with others, and giving his time to help everybody. At this sad time many of us are grieving deeply at his loss. Yet I (and we) are also amazed that despite several years of debilitating illness he was able to work so intently, bring his final really important books into existence. We will remember the man with love and sadness. But as mentioned above, Ole will be remembered long after we, his friends and colleagues are gone for his fundamental contributions to our field. 

I am honoured to have been his friend for 40 years. When I recently heard how grave his illness had become, I sent a message which was read to him by Miriam with messages from many others who love him. I was touched to learn that many messages like this were read to Ole as he lay ill in bed, and that the love, affection and respect expressed in the messages brought tears to his eyes 

I am so glad that Ole was able to read what I said about him in dedicating the most recent issue of the Philosophy of Mathematics Education journal to him, before this final illness. 

I first met Ole Skovsmose in person in 1992. We had been communicating by letter, since 1990. At the time, I was studying at Cornell University, and in conversations with my professor at the time, South African John Volmink, I repeatedly heard the same advice: “You have to talk to Ole.” I got his address from John and sent him a letter in which I talked about: ethnomathematics, my master’s thesis, Paulo Freire, Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, modeling, and I can’t even remember what else! Two or three weeks later, I received a letter from him with several thoughtful comments and some of his texts… And so it continued for almost two years. Ole didn’t attend the meeting of critical mathematics educators at Cornell, organized by John, Marilyn Frankenstein, and Arthur Powell), but we finally met in Quebec, at ICME-7 where we talked a lot, exchanged texts (by then I already had some written in English), and we took part in a joint session on critical mathematics education, not without some resistance, right there at ICME.

In one of our conversations, I told him I’d be returning to Brazil in December 1992 and asked if he would come to visit, even though I couldn’t afford the expenses, as I didn’t even have a job! Without hesitation he agreed to come! After I got a position at Unesp, I invited him and he accepted! As usual, we arranged an office space for him and started our collaboration. We thought about what to write together, and he really liked an article I had written on my own, in English, about the ideology of certainty, though it was quite short. He agreed to co-develop a longer version with me, and that became our first academic collaboration. Ole was very interested in Brazil, in Brazilian mathematics education, and in the fact that I was in dialogue with Freire. I was fascinated to see an internationally renowned educator engaging with Freire in his texts — something rare in Brazilian mathematics education at the time!

We published that article and also book chapters. Ole, as Bill Atweh describes in his work, developed a process of democratic internationalization. Atweh cites our collaboration as a democratic one, where there was dialogue and reciprocity. I went two or three times to Denmark as a visiting professor, funded by Danish resources At that time (during the 90s and early 2000s) Ole lived full time in Denmark; this was before he started dividing his time between Denmark and Brazil. Ole was well aware of the inequality between Brazil and Denmark and had no problem covering most of our meeting expenses, using the concept of equity.

We developed projects which, for me — and I’m sure for him too — were rich in learning and helped us both develop our work. I met more of his scientific partners from around the world. Ole, like Ubi D’Ambrosio, opened international doors for me. He also opened doors for many other Brazilians and formed several other partnerships in Brazil. It’s impossible not to highlight the partnership he built with Professor Miriam Penteado, who also became his life partner. With Miriam, he built a marriage and a research group, EPURA. Without a doubt, the most important relationship Ole had in Brazil — and also his most significant collaboration — was with Professor Miriam, my colleague in the department.

Ole would drink cachaça with me and joke about the sounds of different cachaças, whether in my backyard or at bars. In those settings, we came up with projects, planned academic trips, and new visits to Brazil. It was a decade of deep collaboration, during which I wrote the preface and a chapter for the first book he published in Brazil in 2001. Then, I helped make it possible for him to publish his second book in Brazil, with a colleague, in the “Tendências” collection. Ole didn’t let me give up — twice — on writing the Springer book, and he guided me on how to collaborate with Mónica Villarreal, who became the book’s co-author. The book was published in 2005, 20 years ago. Ole wrote the afterword for that book, Humans-with-Media. During walks and conversations fueled by cachaça, he never let me quit! If for nothing else, that alone makes me eternally grateful.

As a member of the Board of AME, the Springer series where he published his last two books, I had my last — indirect — contact with his work. I miss you, Ole! I hope you’re smiling as you always did, right to the end. I’ll always remember us tasting cachaças on Avenida do Contorno in Belo Horizonte, “competing” over who had more bottles by the end of the shopping trip! And of course, we did get to taste the famous Havana cachaça!

<><><><><><><> 

Conheci Ole Skovsmose em 1992. Na verdade, por carta, desde 1990. Estudava na Cornell University e nas conversas com o sul africano John Volmink, então meu professor naquela universidade, ouvi o conselho dado insistentemente: você tem que conversar com o Ole. Consegui seu endereço com o John, enviei uma carta falando de etnomatemática, da minha dissertação de mestrado, de Paulo Freire, de Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, de Modelagem e não me lembro do que mais! Duas três semanas depois recebi carta dele com várias ponderações e alguns dos seus textos… Assim continuamos durante quase dois anos (ele não veio no encontro dos critical mathematical educators em Cornell, organizado por John, Marylin Frankenstein e Arthur Powell), mas finalmente nos encontramos em Quebec, no ICME-7. Conversamos bastante, trocamos textos (nesta época já tinha alguns em inglês) e participamos juntos de uma seção sobre educação matemática crítica, com ares de protesto, em pleno ICME. Numa das conversas, disse a ele que deveria retornar ao Brasil em dezembro de 1992 e perguntei se ele viria visitar, embora não tivesse como pagar as despesas, já que nem emprego tinha! Ele disse, sem pestanejar: sim eu vou! E depois de conseguir vaga na Unesp, o convidei e ele aceitou! Arrumamos conforme praxe, uma sala para ele e iniciamos nossa colaboração. Pensamos em sobre o que escrever, e ele gostou muito de um artigo que tinha escrito sozinho, em inglês, sobre ideologia da certeza, mas que era muito curto. Ele aceitou desenvolver em conjunto comigo uma versão mais longa e esta foi nossa primeira colaboração acadêmica. Ole estava muito interessado no Brasil, na educação matemática brasileira e por eu dialogar com Freire. Eu estava fascinado por ver um educador de renome internacional dialogando com Freire em seus textos, coisa rara na educação matemática do Brasil da época! Publicamos esse artigo, publicamos capítulos de livros. Ole, conforme Bill Atweh descreve em sua obra, desenvolveu um processo de internacionalização democrática. Atweh cita nossa colaboração como uma forma democrática, onde havia diálogo e reciprocidade. Assim fui- como professor convidado, com verba dinamarquesa – umas duas ou três vezes à Dinamarca, onde ele vivia na década de 90 e no início deste século, até começar a alternar moradia entre Dinamarca e Brasil. Ole era ciente da desigualdade entre Brasil e Dinamarca e não se importava em financiar, usando a noção de equidade, a maior parte de nossos encontros. Desenvolvemos projetos, que para mim, e tenho certeza que para ele, foram frutos de aprendizados e o trabalho de ambos cresceu. Conheci mais parceiros científicos dele mundo afora. Ole, como Ubi, abria portas internacionais para mim. Ole abriu porta para vários outros brasileiros e fez diversas outras parcerias no Brasil. Não é possível deixar de destacar a parceria que construiu com a professora Miriam Penteado que se tornou também sua companheira pelo resto da vida. Com Miriam constitui um casamento e junto um grupo de pesquisa, EPURA. Certamente a relação mais importante de Ole no Brasil, e também a colaboração mais importante é aquela realizada com a professora Miriam, minha colega de departamento.

Ole bebia cachaça comigo e brincava muito com sons de diferentes cachaças, seja no quintal de minha casa ou em bares. Em ambientes como este elaboramos projetos, planejamos viagens científicas e novas vindas ao Brasil. Foi uma década de muita colaboração, em que escrevi o prefácio e um capítulo do primeiro livro que ele publica no Brasil em 2001. Em seguida, possibilito que ele, com uma colega, publique seu segundo livro no Brasil, na coleção “Tendências”. Ole não deixou que eu desistisse, em duas ocasiões, de escrever o livro da Springer, e me indicou sobre como fazer a colaboração com Mónica Villarreal, que se tornou co-autora do livro da Springer, que saiu publicado em 2005, 20 anos atrás. Ole escreve o posfácio deste  livro, o “humans-with-media”.  Ole, em caminhadas e conversas regadas a cachaça, não deixou que desistisse! Se não fosse por outras coisas, só esse fato, me faz ter gratidão eterna. Como membro do Board, da AME, coleção da Springer onde ele publicou seus últimos dois livros, tive meu último contato – indireto – com sua obra. Saudades Ole! Que esteja com este sorriso que manteve até o último momento. Vou manter a lembrança de nós dois, provando cachaças na avenida do Contorno em Belo Horizonte, e “competindo” sobre quem tinha mais garrafas ao final da compra! E é claro, conseguimos provar a famosa cachaça Havana!