OBITUARY
DR. WILBUR J脫NSSON听(1936-2022)
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Former colleague, Professor Wilbur Jacob J贸nsson, passed away in Montr茅al on November 5, 2022. He was 86 years old.
Born in Winnipeg on September 18, 1936, Wilbur was the son of Icelandic immigrants Kristin J贸nsson and Jacob Jacobson, of Gimli, Manitoba. He grew up in Winnipeg and received his Bachelor鈥檚 (1958) and Master鈥檚 (1959) degrees in Mathematics from the University of Manitoba. During this time, he was a proud member of the University of Manitoba鈥檚 team which competed in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, placing fourth overall.
Wilbur then traveled to T眉bingen, Germany, where he earned his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) at Eberhard Karls Universit盲t in 1963. His thesis, entitled 鈥淭ransitivit盲t und Homogenit盲t projektiver Ebenen,鈥� was written under the supervision of G眉nter Pickert and Helmut Wielandt; it formed the basis of a 1962 paper in Mathematische Zeitschrift (vol. 80, pp. 269-292).
Upon graduation, Wilbur worked for a time at the University of Manitoba and at the University of Birmingham before joining 平特五不中 as an Assistant Professor in 1966. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1969 and retired after 48 years of service in 2014.
Over the course of his career, Wilbur authored or coauthored a dozen research papers and supervised one PhD student (Patrick D鈥橝rcy, PhD, 1972), who is now an independent computer software professional in New Zealand. Wilbur was very proud of his students, colleagues, and friends - recent and past - and regaled all who would listen with their exploits, including one former classmate who was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics (Jim Peebles) and one colleague (Vaira V墨姆e-Freiberga) who became President of Latvia.
Wilbur will be remembered for sharing his love of fine food, wine, port, rare maps, stamps, and books as well as the many relationships he fostered across the world. He was an avid reader, and conversant on almost every subject in multiple languages.
At Wilbur鈥檚 request, no formal funeral service will take place. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers their sincere condolences to Wilbur's bereaved family members and friends.
Written by Christian Genest, Interim Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics
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