Ed Baumgart is known as a great teacher who has always been very active in school and community activities. Besides the Descartes Medal, Ed is the recipient of The Stewart Award for Teacher Excellence (Waterloo County), and the Eastwood Student Parliamentary Award for outstanding extracurricular support.
Ed grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo, attending King Edward P.S., Elizabeth Ziegler P.S. and Kitchener-Waterloo C.I. & V.S. His university days were spent at McMaster and the University of Toronto.
Back in K-W, Ed taught at Waterloo C.I. and Eastwood C.I. where he was department head. He coached a number of school sports teams and mathematics contest teams.
Ed is a co-founder of the Waterloo County Mathematics League and the Grand Valley Mathematics Association. He later wrote a 25 year history of the G.V.M.A. He worked for many years with the Canadian Mathematics Competition problems committees, and has been a contest marker. He taught Althouse College students and also lectured at Ministry of Education summer courses for teachers.
Minor baseball, gardening, woodworking, curling and his church are other important parts of Ed’s life.