Michael Aymar’s strong New Jersey roots formed the basis and influenced the ultimate direction of his life. Anthony of Padua School and St. Peter’s Preparatory School, where his devotion to the Catholic educational tradition was fostered. He attended New York University and went on to a career as a bond trader, but his true calling beckoned from the neighborhoods of his youth. Wall Street gave him
one priceless bonus -- an introduction to his future wife, Amanda -- before he left it to work in media. It was only a matter of time, however, until he realized that the glitter of Manhattan faded in comparison to working with what he called “God’s best thing” -- children. He returned across the Hudson River with his young family and started teaching at St. Anthony of Padua in an effort to give back to the place he felt had given him so much. Aymar (to speak of him as his students did) taught in Catholic schools for 22 years, appreciating how his own education had given him a foundation difficult to replicate elsewhere. He believed in the words of John 14:6, that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and the greatest gift to future generations was to share this Truth and help them along the Way to the fullness of Life. He embodied the Christian spirit of selfless love, sharing not only his heart and mind, but food and even clothing with students in need. For two decades he donated time and effort to coaching Forensics. He coaxed shy, awkward children to deliver fiery speeches and elicited side-splitting humor routines from saturnine introverts. The influence of Mr. Aymar would last far beyond each pupil’s tenure in his classroom. Though they were scarcely of an age to travel the path to true wisdom, he prepared these middle-school children for the journey -- and emboldened them to make it. Eschewing technological gadgets and pedagogical fads, he relied on encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, mutual respect, and unflagging humor. Students of the “Snack Rustler” would long remember sketching the S.S. Aymar and singing, “Stop! In the Name of Love,” and thus also remember how to identify verb tenses and locate direct objects. Though his passion was grammar, he inspired the same level of engagement when teaching science, social studies, and religion. He cared deeply about his students, and they responded in kind. In their efforts to gain his approval, they gained confidence, self-reliance, and a lifelong love of learning. His visage always bore a smile, his hand supported, and his command was not to despair, but to believe, to try, and...to keep reading! The works of Mr. Aymar were selfless...and thus abiding. He kindled the fire of learning, the flame of the Spirit, the light of love -- the things that truly last. To quote again from one of his favorite books, the Bible, “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” Mr. Aymar reminded us that monuments do not endure; what endures is, to use his own words, “the miracle which unfolds around us day by day, the miracle which is our lives.”
He lit a fire in his students, and the best monument to him is to keep passing that flame onward. As he might put it, “Look on my works, ye mighty, and smile!”
