Search Archived Marriage Records
Frederick W. Gehring
Distinguished University Professor Emeritus Frederick W. Gehring, a world-renowned mathematician, Born in Ann Arbor, his association with U-M went back two generations to his grandfather, John Oren Reed, who was a member of the physics faculty and dean of LSA. In 1955 he began teaching mathematics at U-M. His long history of service at U-M includes three terms as chair of the Department of Mathematics. He retired in 1996.
Gehring was a leading figure in the field of quasiconformal mappings. Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships in 1958-60 allowed him to study in Helsinki and Zürich, where he began to learn about quasiconformal mappings.
In addition to his many honors, in 2006 the American Mathematical Society honored Gehring with a Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
Gehring supervised 29 Ph.D. students, many of whom are now faculty members at research universities, and he mentored more than 40 postdoctoral fellows.
He is survived by his wife Lois, his sons Kalle and Peter, two grandchildren and his sister Barbara Gehring. A memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Alumni Center.
Rudolph Thun
Rudolph Thun, professor of physics in LSA, born in Dresden, Germany, on July 22, 1944, played a key role in the international ATLAS experiment at CERN that led to the recent discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.
“Rudi was in many ways the veritable heart and soul of the University of Michigan ATLAS group and he will be sorely missed,” says Homer Neal, the Samuel A. Goudsmit Distinguished University Professor of Physics and the Michigan leader of ATLAS.
Thun and his family came to the United States in 1955. He received a bachelor’s in physics from Princeton University and a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stoney Brook in 1972. He has been a professor at U-M for 38 years. In describing his work with the ATLAS group, Neal says, “His ideal was to follow the data and to push our analysis like explorers into the unknown, uninhibited by excessive allegiance to speculative hypotheses.”
Thun was a novelist and painter who had diverse scientific interests outside physics. He also enjoyed spending time with family, playing chess, traveling and hiking, according to his Ann Arbor.com obituaray.
In lieu of flowers, his family encourages friends and colleagues to make a donation to The National Park Foundation. Services will be in Massachusetts.
Joyce (Johnson) Bonk
Joyce (Johnson) Bonk, former assistant curator of books at the William L. Clements Library, born in Dovray, Minn., on March 25, 1926, the daughter of Hans and Olga (Julien) Johnson. She graduated in 1948 from the University of Minnesota, where she met her first husband, Wallace J. Bonk, of Two Rivers, Wisc. After marrying in October 1948, they moved to Commerce, Texas, where Wally worked at East Texas State University (now part of Texas A&M), teaching from 1949-52.
In 1952 Wally Bonk entered graduate school at U-M while working in the University Catalog Department, and Joyce Bonk worked as a librarian in old Ann Arbor High School, at the corner of State Street and Huron Avenue. Having earned his Ph.D., Wally joined the faculty of the School of Library Science at U-M. In 1956 Joyce joined the staff of the William L. Clements Library as assistant curator of books; she remained in this position until her retirement in 1992. Wally married Edwin Woodworth, a longtime family friend whose late wife Marge had been Joyce’s colleague at the Ann Arbor High School library. Woodworth preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Irvin and Winston. She is survived by her sister Janice (David) Tweet of Eden Prairie, Minn.; step-children Ann Woodworth of New Buffalo, Mich., Jim (Ann) Woodworth of St. Pete Beach, Fla., and Jane (Fred) Pettit of Ann Arbor; sister-in-law Barbara (Riggs) Knapp, of Dexter; and sisters- and brothers-in-law Frances (Fritz) Puls, Carol (Roger) Puls and Lorraine Maresh of Two Rivers, Shirley (Don) Brault of Mt. Horeb, Wisc., and Leonard Rybarczyk of Illinois.
A memorial gathering will take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Huron Woods chapel.
Memorial contributions may be made to Huron Woods, 5361 McAuley Drive, P.O. Box 995, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 or to the Wallace and Joyce Bonk Scholarship Fund, School of Information, The University of Michigan, 4322 North Quad, 105 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-8031.
William C. Parkinson
William C. Parkinson, professor emeritus of physics, died Oct. 7 after a four-year battle with cancer.
Huntington received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1964, and a Master of Arts in business in 1965, both from U-M, and later received a Juris Doctor degree from Suffolk University. After serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, he worked for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Boston from 1967 until 1993, retiring as vice president and corporate actuary.
In 1993, Huntington returned to U-M as a professor of mathematics and director of the Actuarial Mathematics Program and the Financial Mathematics Program. He was associate chair for education in the department from 2004 to 2007 and from 2009 until his death.
For many years, he chaired the scholarship committee, and also arranged and proctored the actuarial exams for students.
Under his leadership, the actuarial/financial mathematics program was revitalized. He was instrumental in the significant increase of graduates in actuarial/financial mathematics over the past two decades, and the program is now recognized by the Society of Actuaries as a Center of Actuarial Excellence, one of only 24 schools in the world have this designation.
Huntington was an excellent teacher and a thoughtful adviser. He was proud of the active student group Student Actuaries at Michigan and helped it organize numerous trips to visit the home offices of prospective employers, arrange recruiting visits to campus for internships and hiring, and related professional endeavors.
Huntington worked on the development and fundraising activities of the department, and served as the Development Committee chair for several years. He formed the Actuarial Alumni Leadership Council, a group of U-M alumni in the profession who helped to guide and support the program. He personally endowed a fund in his mother’s name that recognizes outstanding first- and second-year students in mathematics, and he was the driving force in a successful campaign to endow a professorship in honor of Professor Cecil Nesbitt, who ran the Actuarial program in the Department for decades.
Huntington was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1942. His father was an actuary and his mother was also a mathematician. He was a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, a fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and an associated professional member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.
The Society of Actuaries honored him in 2001 with the John E. O’Connor Jr. Distinguished Service Award, and again in 2009 with the Presidential Award. He was the 2010 recipient of the Harry T. Eidson Founders Award from the American Society of Pension Professional and Actuaries and the 2012 Jarvis Farley Service Award from the American Academy of Actuarie. In 2012, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.
He is survived by his sister, Peg; her husband, Hugh; and three nephews.
A memorial service will be conducted at a later date. Those wishing to share memories can email them to math.mich@umich.edu for inclusion in a memorial program. Memorial contributions can be made to the Curtis E. Huntington Honorary Fund endowment (allocation 572235).
