categories - Category Theory list
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
* categories: Obituary for Bill
@ 2023-02-01  2:01 Danilo Lawvere
  2023-02-02 19:42 ` categories: Francis William Lawvere George Janelidze
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 2+ messages in thread
From: Danilo Lawvere @ 2023-02-01  2:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: categories


Francis William Lawvere, (born Muncie, Indiana, February 9, 1937), died at
sunrise on January 23, 2023, aged 85, after a long illness at his home
in Chapel
Hill, NC. Bill graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1955 after
attending Jefferson Township High School, Upland. He became a mathematician
and received his undergraduate degree from Indiana University, Bloomington and
his Doctorate from Columbia University, New York City. He did his
post-doctoral studies at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland.


Bill was devoted to scientific research, education and the democratic renewal
of society. He continues to be greatly appreciated for his research insights
and his many collaborations in discovering and elaborating a wide array of
new concepts in mathematics and several related fields.



As one of the leaders in the field of Category Theory, Bill worked to unify
and simplify both advanced and elementary mathematics, so that mathematics and
philosophy could continue to serve as guides for science and education. He
opposed war, supported liberation and resistance struggles of peoples around
the world and at home, and encouraged
progressive political activities his entire adult life. He stood for free
speech and
vigorous discussion involving everyone in addressing problems based on
theory and a commitment to progress.


Bill generously gave guidance and encouragement to undergraduate and
graduate students, as well as to researchers in many countries. He wrote
several books and many articles representing his research and
collaborations with many colleagues. His wife, Fatima, was a constant
collaborator in his fruitful career in mathematical education, publishing
and lecturing. Bill lectured and collaborated with scientists in dozens of
countries and his contributions continue to widely impact several areas of
science.



Among many recognitions, in 2010, he was proud to have received the "Premio
  Giulio Preti" prize, awarded by the Regional Council of Tuscany
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Council_of_Tuscany>, and to have
been elected as an American Mathematical Society Fellow in 2012. Additional
information and useful links regarding his scientific life can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lawvere.


Many of Bill’s discoveries in advanced mathematics had developed as  ways
to improve teaching and understanding.  He taught at the State University
of New York at
Buffalo for 26 years and retired officially as professor emeritus in
Mathematics and Philosophy in 2000. This allowed him to focus on his
passion of research and education. If he was whistling in the morning we
knew he was contemplating an interesting idea.



Earlier in his career, he held positions at various Universities: Portland,
Oregon; New York City; Halifax, Canada; Chicago, Illinois; Zurich, Sw
itzerland; Aarhus, Denmark; Perugia, Italy; Paris, France; and Sydney,
Australia.

Bill enjoyed visiting and spoke highly of his childhood farm outsideMatthews,
Indiana, the surrounding farms and towns, and especially of his many relations,
friends, classmates and influential teachers who had encouraged him
throughout his early education.


Preceding him in death were his parents, Francis W. and Delight

(Moorman) Lawvere, his son, William Nevin Lawvere, his first wife Sybil
Lawvere, his

sister-in-law Dorothy Lawvere, and his brother Albert Lawvere.



He is survived by his beloved life partner of 57 years Fatima Fenaroli Lawvere,
now in Chapel Hill, NC; his children, Marco Fenaroli (Medellin, Colombia); John
Theodore Lawvere (Tucson,

AZ), Philp Lawvere (Angistri, Greece); Danilo Lawvere (Loretta Gmeinder),
(Buffalo NY); Silvana Lawvere de Moreno (Adrian Moreno) (Chapel Hill, NC);
and grandchildren Edoardo, Odilla and Jamila Lawvere, and Diego Guillermo
Moreno. He is also survived by brother Jon Lawvere (Karen Smile); sister
LaRea Lawvere Slater (Jim Slater); Gabi Lawvere (Widow of Albert Lawvere), and
nieces and nephews (Robin, LaRonda, Nick and Liell Lawvere) all still
living on the family farm in Matthews, Indiana, as well as nephew Marcello
Fenaroli (Zurich, Switzerland).


He was adored by friends, family, colleagues and loving care-givers.
They referred
to him as a generous spirit and a gentle giant. Until the end, he was always
ready with a smile and a thank you. He will be missed.



No services will be held at this time, however, several memorial
celebrations of life and scientific work are anticipated.



Correspondence with family can be sent to his wife Fatima at

fatimaylawvere@gmail.com or to

111 East Winmore Ave., Chapel Hill, NC 27516.


William Lawvere - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lawvere>

Biography. Lawvere studied continuum mechanics as an undergraduate with
Clifford Truesdell.He learned of category theory while teaching a course on
functional analysis for Truesdell, specifically from a problem in John L.
Kelley's textbook General Topology.Lawvere found it a promising framework
for simple rigorous axioms for the physical ideas of Truesdell and Walter
Noll.

en.wikipedia.org


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

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 2+ messages in thread

* categories: Francis William Lawvere
  2023-02-01  2:01 categories: Obituary for Bill Danilo Lawvere
@ 2023-02-02 19:42 ` George Janelidze
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: George Janelidze @ 2023-02-02 19:42 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: categories

I only want to say what is obvious, at least to experts in category theory:
Francis William Lawvere was a great mathematician of our time, and his
contribution in creating the category-theoretic era of mathematics was
outstanding.

George Janelidze



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

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 2+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2023-02-02 21:39 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 2+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2023-02-01  2:01 categories: Obituary for Bill Danilo Lawvere
2023-02-02 19:42 ` categories: Francis William Lawvere George Janelidze

This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).