My most inspiring mathematics teacher wasn't a member of the county school board nor were they a family member. Instead, he was a Professor Emeritus who volunteered his time during evenings at the local University to introduce more complex problems & problem solving methods to young students who were keen and/or were not feeling challenged enough by the standard curriculum. Although the goal was to prepare for the annual Waterloo math contests (of varying difficulty based on your grade level) what I (and I believe most students) got out the experience was a better understanding of the grand scope of math and its sheer power. I attended these free extra-curricular sessions from ages 12-16; I definitely would not have studied math as passionately/intensely in the years that followed without his invaluable guidance. Looking back, I can say that he also influenced how I went about explaining math to other students in various environments (tutoring, learning centre groups, tutorials, etc...).
One the flip side of the coin, any teachers that were responsible for perpetuating the stigma that mathematics is difficult to understand and is only for the select few through banal, uninspired lessons and/or discouragement all fall into the least favourite category for me.
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