Nico Pumplün

[Walter P Tholen <tholen@yorku.ca>]

Many readers of this list will remember Dieter („Nico“) Pumplün. He passed away yesterday (July 20, 2021) at the age of 88.

Nico received his doctoral degree in 1960 at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany, with a thesis in algebraic number theory, written under the direction of Hans Petersson. He turned his attention to  category theory during a stay in the U.S. and was an early promoter of the  theory in Germany in the 1960s. Later on, he became particularly interested in the applications of category theory to analysis, as evidenced by his extensive collaborative work with Helmut Röhrl and Diethard Pallaschke. Among many others, he also collaborated with his friend Heinrich Kleisli.

Nico served his institutions in various important administrative positions,  first at the WWU and then at Fernuniversität in Hagen, a newly founded university specializing in distance education, where in 1975 he had assumed the inaugural professorial position in mathematics. He was instrumental in establishing the mathematics curriculum at Fernuniversität, and his enthusiasm for research and the education of his graduate students were extraordinary and very inspiring.

Nico very much mourned the death of his wife Hannelore a few years ago. His  two daughters, Susanne and Constanze, are both professional mathematicians, and there is a prospect that some of his four grandsons will follow a similar career path.

I will miss a teacher, mentor and life-long friend.


[For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]