Gene Golub
1932-Nov. 16, 2007
Stanford, California

Gene Golub, 75, founder of the Stanford University Computer Science Department in the 1960s, died Nov. 16 at Stanford Hospital a few days after being diagnosed with leukemia.

He was born in Chicago in 1932, the son of Latvian and Ukrainian immigrants.

He earned three mathematics degrees, including a doctorate, from the University of Illinois, and joined the Stanford faculty in 1962.

He was known as a pioneer in the field of numerical analysis. He had been nominated earlier this year for the Turing Award, described by some as the Nobel Prize of computing. He was nominated because of his accomplishments in using computations for solving complex problems.

"Our community has lost its foremost member," said Cleve Moler, also a recognized leader in numerical analysis and the founder of MathWorks, a company that produces software for technical computing and design.

"How fortunate he was to have found a niche he was suited for," Golub's brother, Al, said. "He found Stanford or Stanford found him."

"He was one of the people who nurtured the field and traveled around the world bringing people together as a catalyst," Don Knuth, computer science professor emeritus, said.

Tags: teacher/educator