WEIGL
WEILER
WEINSTEIN
WEINTRUAB
WEIR
WEISS
WEIGL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-12 published
Notice To Creditors
All▼ claims against the Estate of Robert Hugh
DUNLOP, late of
the City of Toronto, who died on January 10, 2003, must be filed
with the estate trustee before July 31, 2003, after which date
the assets of the Estate will be distributed having regard only
to the claims then filed.
Dated at Toronto, this 9th day of June, 2003.
The Canada Trust Company
By their solicitors therein
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin L.L.P.
Toronto Dominion Bank Tower,
Suite 4200, Box 20
Toronto, Ontario M5K 1N6
Attn: Corina
WEIGL
Page B11
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WEIGL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-06-19 published
DUNLOP,
Robert
Hugh - Notice To Creditors
All▲ claims against the Estate of Robert Hugh
DUNLOP, late of
the City of Toronto, who died on January 10, 2003, must be filed
with the estate trustee before July 31, 2003, after which date
the assets of the Estate will be distributed having regard only
to the claims then filed.
Dated at Toronto, this 9th day of June, 2003.
The Canada Trust Company
By their solicitors therein
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin L.L.P.
Toronto Dominion Bank Tower,
Suite 4200, Box 20
Toronto, Ontario M5K 1N6
Attn. Corina
WEIGL
Page B8
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WEIGL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-28 published
Herbert Anton
WEIGL
By Gary WEIGL,
Corina
WEIGL Tuesday,
October 28, 2003 - Page
A26
Son, brother, husband, father, friend. Born May 8, 1937, in Nuremberg,
Germany. Died June 3 in Ajax, Ontario, of cancer, aged 66.
During the Second World War, Herbie (or Shmyly) was evacuated
from Nuremberg to a small farming crossroads in 1942 with his
mother and younger sisters, Wilma and Gerda. They stayed away
from the city until 1947. Herbie was the man of the house until
his father was released from military detention following the
war.
A brother, Franzel, whom some mistook for Herbie's son, came
along in 1953.
As a young teen, the need to help the family lead Herbie to an
apprenticeship as a tool-and-die machinist. By 1956, the family
was secure and his apprenticeship was complete so Herbie, only
18, decided to emigrate from Germany to Canada -- a land of excitement
and opportunity for a young, energetic man.
Within days of arriving by boat in Montreal, Herbie took a job
as a precision machinist in a Toronto aeronautics firm, a job
he held for 37 years. Always called upon by the firm to do the
toughest, most precise work, Herbie's contributions helped to
put a man on the moon and helped build Canada's space arm for
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's space shuttle.
Although many times offered the chance to move to the front office,
Herbie always declined. He preferred to stay with the hands-on
work where his talent really lay. This choice eventually lead
to a work-related, debilitating disease (berylliosis), which
resulted in medical retirement at the age of 56.
In 1962, Herbie met a young German girl named Elfi on a blind
date. An immigrant herself, she and Herbie were married after
a six-month courtship. A son, Gary, was born in 1963 and a daughter,
Corina, followed in 1968. This lead to a bigger house in the
growing community of Ajax and a daily commute to the city for
Herbie.
As immigrants, the allure of Canada for both Herbie and Elfi
centred around the "great outdoors" that this country has to
offer; in 1970 the family bought property in cottage country
where the family retreat was built.
Every Friday thereafter, the family station wagon could be seen
heading north piled high with family and pets and the ever-present
building supplies.
Tears came at Christmas of 1981 when, having finally completed
the cottage, an accidental fire destroyed Herbie's pride and
joy. As a family, we rebuilt, and "Herb's Phoenix" now stands
as a testament to our father's stoicism.
Herbie always took pride in his children. Whether as soccer coach
or teacher, he always pushed his children to do their best. He
instilled in us many values, such as hard work, the importance
of education (he ensured that both of his children each completed
two post-secondary degrees) and being true to oneself and one's
Friends.
Retirement allowed Herbie and Elfi to begin wintering in Florida
in 1993. Becoming true Snowbirds, each December they looked forward
to packing the car and heading south; come March it was Herbie
who was itching to get back to Canada and his cottage.
In the end, time was not on his side in terms of the many things
Herbie wanted to do. In April he came home from Florida carrying
the cancer that was diagnosed as terminal by May's end.
He did, however, make it back to the cottage, one last time,
in the weeks preceding his death.
Herbie refused pain medication until the last few hours, preferring
to be as awake as possible for as long as possible. He was surrounded
by those who loved him, but the suddenness of his death has left
us grieving and missing his smile.
Gary and Corina are Herbie's children.
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WEILER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-04 published
KRAFCHIK,
Terrie
(Theresa)
Died at Saint Mary's Hospital on Monday, November 3, 2003, at 90
years of age. Beloved wife of the late Paul Peter
KRAFCHIK
(February
1989.) Mother of Gail and her husband Bob
HASLER of Ottawa, and
Jim and his wife
Lillian
KRAFCHIK of Toronto. Grandmother of
Michael KRAFCHIK,
David
KRAFCHIK, both of Toronto, and Laurel
Anne HASLER of Saint John's, Newfoundland. Sister of Dorothy
WEILER
of Kitchener, Marie
KARN of Puslinch, Loretta
McCASKILL of Barrie,
and Helen HIPEL of Waterloo. Sister-in-law of Gladys
HERGOTT
of Kitchener. Predeceased by her brothers, Irvin, Elmer and Jerome
HERGOTT.
Terrie was an active member of Saint Mark's R.C. Parish
where she was also a member of the Catholic Women's League. She
taught bridge to the blind from 1973-1975, and was very involved
in parish bridge marathons from 1954-2003. The
KRAFCHIK family
will receive Friends at the Henry Walser Funeral Home, 507 Frederick
Street, Kitchener (519-749-8467) Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-4
p.m. and 7-9 p.m., with parish prayers on Wednesday at 8: 30 p.m.
Prayers will be offered at the Funeral Home on Thursday, November
6, 2003 at 10: 15 a.m., then followed by Terrie's Funeral Mass
at Saint Mark's R.C. Parish, 55 Driftwood Drive, Kitchener, at
11 a.m. Fr. Bill
TRUSZ officiating. Interment Woodland Cemetery.
As expressions of sympathy, donations to Saint Mark's R.C. Parish
Mortgage Fund or to Saint Mary's Hospital Foundation would be appreciated
by the family. Visit www.obit411.com/1135 for Theresa's memorial.
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WEINSTEIN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-23 published
Rolf O. KROGER, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology University
of Toronto
Rolf died, as he lived, with grace, courage, humour and dignity,
at home on April 18th, 2003, of advanced prostate cancer. He
was the devoted and beloved husband of Linda
WOOD. He was the
cherished son of Erna
KROGER and son-in-law of Adele
WOOD; loving
brother of Harold and Jurgen
KROGER; dear brother-in-law of Wilma
KROGER,
Edelgard
DEDO, Lorraine
WOOD, Robert and Deborah
WOOD,
and Reg WOOD; much loved uncle of Andrew
KROGER and Stephen
KROGER,
Christina and Linda
JUHASZ-
WOOD, Taylor, Genna and Devon
WOOD,
Jonathan and Nicole
WOOD,
Phillippe
NOEL, and Jose and David
TILLETT, and nephew of Liesl
WINTER,
Otto
WINTER and Alf and
Sue MODJESKI.
Rolf was born in Hamburg, Germany, on September
28th, 1931. He emigrated to Canada in 1952, and completed a B.A.
in psychology at Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University)
in 1957. Following his M.A. (1959) at Columbia University, New
York, he received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University
of California at Berkeley in 1963. His advisor, Prof. Theodore
R. SARBIN
(Prof.
Emeritus,
University of California, Santa Cruz,)
has continued to be a valued colleague and dear friend, together
with Rolf's fellow graduate student, Prof. Karl E.
SCHEIBE of
Wesleyan University and Karl's wife Wendy. Rolf joined the Department
of Psychology at the University of Toronto in 1964 and continued
his research and writing in social psychology after retiring
in 1996. Rolf's work addressed a variety of topics concerning
the individual in the social system. His articles and papers
on the social psychology of test-taking, hypnosis, history, epistemology,
methodology and the discipline of social psychology all reflected
his dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with proposals
for new directions. For more than 20 years he has worked with
Linda A. WOOD
(University of Guelph) on topics in language and
social psychology (e.g., terms of address and politeness), and
most recently on a book on discourse analysis. At the time of
his death, he was working on a discursive critique of the 'Big
Five' personality theory enterprise and on stories of his experiences
growing up in Germany during the Second World War. Rolf also
took great pleasure in teaching and greatly valued the opportunity
to work for almost forty years with so many talented and enthusiastic
students, both undergraduate and graduate. Rolf was privileged
to have many long-lasting Friendships, and he was grateful for
the encouragement, help and comfort given by so many, especially
Bogna ANDERSSON,
Eva and Fred
BILD, Clare
MacMARTIN and Bill
MacKENZIE, Frances
NEWMAN and Fred
WEINSTEIN, Jesse
NISHIHATA,
Anne and Michael
PETERS,
Andrew and Judi
WINSTON and Lorraine
WOOD. We have also been sustained by the kindness of our neighbours
on Walmer Road. We express our particular thanks and appreciation
to family physician and friend, Dr. Christine
LIPTAY.
Our thanks
go also to the staff of Princess Margaret Hospital, to the physicians
and nurses of the Hospice Palliative Care Network Project, especially
Dr. Russell
GOLDMAN and nurses Francine
BOHN,
Joan
DYKE, Dwyla
HAMILTON, Lynda
McKEE and Ella
VAN
HERREWEGHE, and to the nurses
of St. Elizabeth, especially Liz
LEADBEATER,
Sylvia
McCALLUM
and Cecilia
McPARLAND.
Cremation was private. There will be an
Open House for remembrance and celebration on Sunday, April 27th
(3-7 p.m.), Monday, April 28th (4-8 p.m.) and Tuesday, April
29th (4-8 p.m.) at 98 Walmer Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2X7.
Please direct any queries to Frances
NEWMAN (416-351-0755.) In
lieu of flowers, donations to Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative
Care (700 University Avenue, Third Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5G
1Z5) or Amnesty International would be appreciated.
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WEINTRUAB o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-03 published
ENNIS,
Lillian
On Saturday, March 1, 2003, at Kensington Gardens, in her 85th
year, after a long and full life. Beloved wife of the late Dr.
Julius ENNIS.
Loving mother and mother-in-law of Paul and Laura,
Jon and Janice, Nancy and Monica, and Barry and Karen. Dear sister
and sister-in-law of the late Sonia and David
GARFIELD, Al and
the late Doris
JANIS, the late Pearl and Dave
DAVIS,
Ruth and
Josh SEGAL,
Bunny and Edith
ENNIS, and Rita and Marvin
WEINTRUAB.
Devoted grandmother of Simon, Joshua, Miriam, Naomi, Isabelle,
Sam, and Julie. She will be missed by her devoted nieces and
nephews and her many Friends. The family is grateful for the
attentive care given by Dr. Anne
BIRINGER.
Special thanks to
everyone at Kensington Gardens. At Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel,
2401 Steeles Avenue West (one light west of Dufferin), for service
on Monday, March 3, 2003, at 12: 30 p.m. Interment Chevra Mishnayis
Section of Mt. Sinai Memorial Park. Shiva 8 Conrad Avenue, through
to Wednesday evening. If desired, donations may be made to the
Lillian Ennis Memorial Fund c/o the Benjamin Foundation, 3429
Bathurst Street, Toronto, M6A 2C3, 416-780-0324.
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WEIR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-04 published
NICHOLS, Onetta Irene (Ret'd Executive Secretary - Parliment
Buildings, Toronto)
peacefully at the Grove Park Nursing Home, Barrie on Monday,
March 3rd, 2003; in her 93rd year. Onetta
NICHOLS, of Orillia,
beloved daughter of the late Mrs. Nellie
NICHOLS.
Predeceased
by her brother Orval. Lovingly remembered by Kathleen
NICHOLS
Roy NICHOLS (Barb); Helen
LYNCH (Ross); Lynne
WEIR (Don - her
'Favorite';) Susan
YOUNG
(Mark) and by her many great and great
great nieces and nephews. The late Miss Onetta
NICHOLS will rest
at the Mundell Funeral Home, 79 West Street, N., Orillia on Wednesday
evening from 7 - 9 p.m. Funeral and Committal Service in the chapel
on Thursday morning, March 6th at 11 o'clock. Spring Interment:
- St. Andrew's - St. James' Cemetery, Orillia. If desired, Memorial
Donations to your choice of any Children's Charity would be gratefully
appreciated. Messages of condolence are welcome at
www.mundellfuneralhome.com
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WEIR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-01 published
WEIR,
E.
Marie▼
Born July 26, 1923. Died March 27, 2003 at Richmond Hospital.
Born in Banff, Marie grew up in Calgary. A graduate of the University
of Alberta, she became a professional secretary working in many
locations including New York, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver.
In Vancouver, Marie worked with The Arthritis Society and later
with Dr. Barry
KOSHLER in Richmond. Throughout her long productive
life and despite her final illness she was always sunny, witty,
a great raconteur and a joy to be with. Marie is survived by
many loving cousins, Dr. Alex
ROBINSON,
Dr.
Harold and Jean
ROBINSON,
Peggy and Hubert
MILLARD and families. She will be missed by
her friend and colleague Marylin
CHOY. A Memorial Service and
Celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, April 5th at
4 p.m. at Ryerson United Church, 2195 West 45th Avenue, Vancouver,
Rev. G. PATERSON officiating. In lieu of flowers, contributions
may be made, in her memory, to the British Columbia Cancer Foundation.
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WEIR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-02 published
WEIR,
Georgette
Marie▲
Died on the 27th day of April, 2003 in Victoria, British Columbia
Dearly loved wife and best friend of Harold. Predeceased by her
parents Paul David
PARR and Sylvia
PARR. Survived by her husband.
The service was held on the 1st day of May, 2003, at Grace Presbyterian
Church, Calgary. Inurnment will be in the family plot at Union
Cemetery, Calgary. Sands Of Victoria (250) 388-5151
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WEIR o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-20 published
MacDONALD,
Catherine
Mildred (née
JOHNSON)
Died peacefully at home, on August 19, 2003, in her 87th year,
surrounded by those she loved. Daughter of the late Michael and
Catherine JOHNSON. Cherished wife and constant companion of Martin
for over 61 years. Devoted mother of Stephen, David and Jody,
Bob and Moira, Tom and Lise Anne, Andrew and Ellen, and Paul.
Loving grandma of Kaeli, Liane, Michael, Mark, Colin, Kristen,
Brendan, Katie, Andrew, Joana and Matthew. Much loved sister
of Geraldine, Sister Gertrude, Congregation of Notre Dame, Father
Joseph, S.J., and Theresa, the late Ellen, Bernard, George, Gerald,
John and Howard. Special sister-in-law of Margaret
KINNA.
Family
and Friends may call on Thursday, August 21, 2003 from 2-4 and
7-9 p.m. at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home (6150 Yonge Street, at
Goulding, south of Steeles). A Mass of Christian Burial will
be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 22, 2003 at St. Gabriel's
Roman Catholic Church, 650 Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto, followed
by burial at Holy Cross Cemetery, Thornhill. Special thanks to
Dr. Anne PYPER,
Virginia
CLARK-
WEIR, R.N., and friend Andrea
WARNICK, R.N., for their extraordinary care and kindness. In
lieu of flowers, donations to North York General Hospital Foundation,
Attn. Freeman Centre for Palliative Care (4001 Leslie Street,
Toronto, Ontario M2K 1E1) would be most appreciated. Millie/mom/
grandma was an extraordinary woman who touched all who knew her.
She will be deeply missed.
''Deo gratis''
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WEISS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
'He kept a little flame of geometry alive'
Superstar University of Toronto mathematician considered himself
an artist, but his seminal work inevitably found practical applications
By Siobhan
ROBERTS
Saturday,
April 12, 2003 - Page F11
Widely considered the greatest classical geometer of his time
and the man who saved his discipline from near extinction, Harold
Scott MacDonald
COXETER, who died on March 31 at 96, said of
himself, with characteristic modesty, "I am like any other artist.
It just so happens that what fills my mind is shapes and numbers."
Prof. COXETER's work focused on hyperdimensional shapes, specifically
the symmetry of regular figures and polytopes. Polytopes are
geometric shapes of any number of dimensions that cannot be constructed
in the real world and can be visualized only when the eye of
the beholder possesses the necessary insight; they are most often
described mathematically and sometimes can be represented with
hypnotically intricate fine-line drawings.
"I like things that can be seen," Prof.
COXETER once remarked.
"You have to imagine a different world where these queer things
have some kind of shape."
Known as Donald (shortened from MacDonald,) Prof.
COXETER had
such a passion for his work and unrivalled elegance in constructing
and writing proofs that he motivated countless mathematicians
to pick up the antiquated discipline of geometry long after it
had been deemed passé.
John Horton
CONWAY, the Von Neumann professor of mathematics
at Princeton University, never studied under Prof.
COXETER, but
he considers himself an honorary student because of the
COXETERian
nature of his work.
"With math, what you're doing is trying to prove something and
that can get very complicated and ugly.
COXETER always manages
to do it clearly and concisely," Prof.
CONWAY said. "He kept
a little flame of geometry alive by doing such beautiful works
himself.
"I'm reminded of a quotation from Walter Pater's book The Renaissance.
He was describing art and poetry, but he talks of a small, gem-like
flame: 'To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain
this ecstasy, is success in life.' "
Prof. COXETER's oeuvre included more than 250 papers and 12 books.
His Introduction to Geometry, published in 1961, is now considered
a classic -- it is still in print and this year is back on the
curriculum at McGill University. His Regular Polytopes is considered
by some as the modern-day addendum to Euclid's Elements. In 1957,
he published Generators and Relations for Discrete Groups, written
jointly with his PhD student and lifelong friend Willy
MOSER.
It is currently in its seventh edition.
Prof. COXETER's self-image as an artist was validated by his
Friendship with and influence on Dutch artist M. C.
ESCHER, who,
when working on his Circle Limit 3 drawings, used to say, "I'm
Coxetering today."
They met at the International Mathematical Congress in Amsterdam
in 1954 and then corresponded about their mutual interest in
repeating patterns and representations of infinity. In a letter
to his son, Mr.
ESCHER noted that a diagram sent to him by Prof.
COXETER that inspired his Circle Limit 3 prints "gave me quite
a shock."
He added that "
COXETER's hocus-pocus text is no use to me at
all.... I understand nothing, absolutely nothing of it."
While Mr. ESCHER claimed total ignorance of math, Prof.
COXETER
wrote numerous papers on the Dutchman's "intuitive geometry."
Though Prof.
COXETER did geometry for its own sake, his work
inevitably found practical application. Buckminster
FULLER encountered
his work in the construction of his geodesic domes. He later
dedicated a book to Prof.
COXETER: "By virtue of his extraordinary
life's work in mathematics, Prof.
COXETER is the geometer of
our bestirring twentieth century. [He is] the spontaneously acclaimed
terrestrial curator of the historical inventory of the science
of pattern analysis."
Prof. COXETER's work with icosohedral symmetries served as a
template of sorts in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the
Carbon 60 molecule. It has also proved relevant to other specialized
areas of science such as telecommunications, data mining, topology
and quasi-crystals.
In 1968, Prof.
COXETER added to his list of converts an anonymous
society of French mathematicians, the Bourbakis, who actively
and internationally sought to eradicate classical geometry from
the curriculum of math education.
"Death to Triangles, Down with Euclid!" was the Bourbaki war
cry. Prof.
COXETER's rebuttal: "Everyone is entitled to their
opinion. But the Bourbakis were sadly mistaken."
One member of the society, Pierre
CARTIER, met Prof.
COXETER
in Montreal and became enamoured of his work. Soon, he had persuaded
his fellow Bourbakis to include Prof.
COXETER's approach in their
annual publication. "An entire volume of Bourbaki was thoroughly
inspired by the work of
COXETER," said Prof.
CARTIER, a professor
at Denis Diderot University in Paris.
In the 1968 volume, Prof.
COXETER's name was writ large into
the lexicon of mathematics with the inauguration of the terms
"COXETER number," "
COXETER group" and
"COXETER graph."
These concepts describe symmetrical properties of shapes in multiple
dimensions and helped to bridge the old-fashioned classical geometry
with the more au courant and applied algebraic side of the discipline.
These concepts continue to pervade geometrical discourse, several
decades after being discovered by Prof.
COXETER.
Prof. COXETER became a serious mathematician at the relatively
late age of 14, though family folklore has it that, as a toddler,
he liked to stare at the columns of numbers in the financial
pages of his father's newspaper.
He was born into a Quaker family in Kensington, just west of
London, on February 9, 1907. His mother, Lucy
GEE, was a landscape
artist and portrait painter, and his father, Harold, was a manufacturer
of surgical instruments, though his great love was sculpting.
They had originally named their son MacDonald Scott
COXETER,
but a godparent suggested that the boy's father's name should
be added at the front. Another relative then pointed out that
H.M.S. COXETER made him sound like a ship of the royal fleet
so the names were switched around.
When Prof.
COXETER was 12, he created his own language -- "Amellaibian"
a cross between Latin and French, and filled a 126-page notebook
with information on the imaginary world where it was spoken.
But more than anything he fancied himself a composer, writing
several piano concertos, a string quartet and a fugue. His mother
took her son and his musical compositions to Gustav
HOLST.
His
advice: "Educate him first."
He was then sent to boarding school, where he met John Flinders
PETRIE, son of Egyptologist Sir Flinders
PETRIE.
The two were
passing time at the infirmary contemplating why there were only
five Platonic solids -- the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron
and icosahedron. They then began visualizing what these shapes
might look like in the fourth dimension. At the age of 15, Prof.
COXETER won a school prize for an English essay on how to project
these geometric shapes into higher dimensions -- he called it
"Dimensional Analogy."
Prof. COXETER's father took his son along with his essay to meet
friend and fellow pacifist Bertrand
RUSSELL.
Mr.
RUSSELL recommended
Prof. COXETER to mathematician E.H.
NEVILLE, a scout, of sorts,
for mathematics prodigies. He was impressed by Prof.
COXETER's
work but appalled by some inexcusable gaps in his mathematical
knowledge. Prof.
NEVILLE arranged for private tutelage in pursuit
of a scholarship at Cambridge. During this period, Prof.
COXETER
was forbidden from thinking in the fourth dimension, except on
Sundays.
He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1926 and was among
five students handpicked by Ludwig
WITTGENSTEIN for his philosophy
of mathematics class. During his first year at Cambridge, at
the age of 19, he discovered a new regular polyhedron that had
six hexagonal faces at each vertex.
After graduating with first-class honours in 1929, he received
his doctorate under H. F.
BAKER in 1931, winning the coveted
Smith's Prize for his thesis.
Prof. COXETER did fellowship stints back and forth between Princeton
and Cambridge for the next few years, focusing on the mathematics
of kaleidoscopes -- he had mirrors specially cut and hinged together
and carried them in velvet pouches sewn by his mother. By 1933,
he had enumerated the n-dimensional kaleidoscopes -- that is,
kaleidoscopes operating up to any number of dimensions.
The concepts that became known as
COXETER groups are the complex
algebraic equations he developed to express how many images may
be seen of any object in a kaleidoscope (he once used a paper
triangle with the word "nonsense" printed on it to track reflections).
In 1936, Prof.
COXETER was offered an assistant professorship
at the University of Toronto. He made the move shortly after
the sudden death of his father and following his marriage to
Rien BROUWER.
She was from the Netherlnds and he met her while
she was on holiday in London.
As a professor, Prof.
COXETER was known to flout set curriculum.
Ed BARBEAU, now a professor at the U of T, recalled that at the
start of his classes, Prof.
COXETER would spread out a manuscript
on the desks at the front of the room. During his lecture, he
would often pause for minutes at a time to make notes when a
student offered something that might be relevant to his work
in progress. When the work was later published, students were
pleasantly surprised to find that their suggestions had been
duly credited.
Prof. COXETER was also known to show up to class carrying a pineapple,
or a giant sunflower from his garden, demonstrating the existence
of geometric principles in nature. And he was notorious for leaping
over details, expecting students to fill in the rest.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's resident intellectual, Lister
SINCLAIR, was one of
Prof. COXETER's earliest students. He once recounted that Prof.
COXETER would "write an expression on the board and you could
see it talking to him. It was like Michelangelo walking around
a block of marble and seeing what's in there."
Asia Ivic WEISS, a professor at York University, Prof.
COXETER's
last PhD student and the only woman so honoured, describes an
incident that perfectly exemplifies Prof.
COXETER's math myopia.
Going into labour with her first child, she called him to cancel
their weekly meeting. Prof.
COXETER, who never acknowledged her
pregnancy, said not to worry, he would send over a stack of research
to keep her busy when she got home from the hospital.
Despite several offers from other universities, Prof.
COXETER
stayed at University of Toronto throughout his career.
Like his father, he was a pacifist. In 1997, he was among those
who marched a petition to the university president's office to
protest against an honorary degree being conferred on George
BUSH Sr. Prof.
COXETER recalled with disdain Robert
PRITCHARD's
telling him, "Donald, I have more important things to worry about."
After his official retirement in 1977, Prof.
COXETER continued
as a professor emeritus, making weekly visits to his office.
These subsided only in the past several months. On the weekend
before his death, he finished revisions on his final paper, which
he had delivered the previous summer in Budapest.
In his last five years, he survived a heart attack, a broken
hip (he sprung himself from the hospital early to drive to a
geometry conference in Wisconsin) and, most recently, prostate
cancer.
Considering his 96 years of vegetarianism and a strict exercise
regime, he felt betrayed by his body. "I feel like the man of
Thermopylae who doesn't do anything properly," he commented
recently after an awkward evening out, quoting nonsense poet
Edward LEAR.
Prof. COXETER died in his home, with three long last breaths,
just before bed on the last day of March.
His brain is now undergoing study at McMaster University, along
with that of Albert
EINSTEIN.
Neuroscientist
Sandra
WITELSON
is tryng to determine whether his brain's extraordinary capacities
are associated with its structure.
Prof. COXETER met with her at the beginning of March and learned
that the atypical elements of Einstein's brain, compared with
an average brain, were symmetrical on both right and left sides.
Prof. WITELSON said she wondered whether there might be similar
findings with Prof.
COXETER's brain. "Isn't that nice," he said.
"I suppose that would indicate all my interest in symmetry was
well founded."
Prof. COXETER leaves his daughter Susan and son Edgar. His wife
died in 1999.
Siobhan ROBERTS is a Toronto writer whose biography of Donald
COXETER will be published by Penguin in 2005.
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