Mather House superintendent James R. Garside died peacefully early yesterday morning in his home a few blocks from Mather. He was 58 years old.

Master of Mather House Sandra A. Naddaff '75 said yesterday that he will be sorely missed.

"I think sometimes you think only in books that there's that absolute correspondence between the person and the house--but it's true, with Jim, he was Mather House," Naddaff said.

Garside had held his post at Mather since the early 1970s. He had been ill for nearly two months, but according to a letter sent by the masters to all Mather residents yesterday, he "just days ago was still planning to come to work."

Naddaff said that she spoke with a few students in the dining hall at lunch yesterday about Garside.

"I think that everybody is really saddened," she said.

Garside had recently started answering his home phone "Mather," the letter quotes his daughter as saying.

Naddaff affirmed that his dedication to the house was remarkable.

"He used to sleep with the short-wave radio by his bed so he could hear any reports about what was going on at Mather," Naddaff said. If there was a fire alarm or other disturbance, "He would get here sometimes before the police did," she said.

The wake will be held in Cambridge this Sunday and Monday, and the funeral mass will be Tuesday, according to the letter. There will be an event at Mather next week for those who knew Garside to pay their respects to the family.