Dr. Jack Kenneth Hale, 81, of Atlanta died December 9, 2009. He left eastern Kentucky in 1944 to attend Berea College in Berea KY. After graduating from Berea, he attended Purdue University for his doctor of philosophy degree in mathematics. Dr. Hale spent many years teaching and doing research in mathematics at Georgia Tech and Brown University. One of his most rewarding accomplishments was working with forty-seven PhD students. Some of his awards are the Chauvenet Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, British Carnegie Fellowship and Sigma XI sustained Research Award. Some of his memberships are Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, Honorary Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh and Foreign Member Polish Academy of Science. He received honorary degrees from Ghent, Belgium; Stuttgart, Germany; University Tecnia of Lisboa, Portugal; Rostock, Germany and Clark University, Worcester, MA.
Jack was among the most influential and respected persons in the area of modern dynamics, leading the exciting development of the field for the past four decades. What made Jack such an admirable person goes far beyond his professional achievement; it was his remarkable professionalism and dedication to work, his unselfishness and thoughtfulness to people, and his principle and persistence toward life. He never stopped working and helping the community and others even during the last remaining months of his life. Three issues of the Journal of Dynamics and Differential Equations will be in honor of Jack. An interview with Jack Hale appears in the Dynamical Systems Magazine.