George Lee CAIN

1934 - 2015

CAIN, George Lee George Lee Cain died June 21, 2015, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81. George was the only child of George and Etta Mae Cain of Wilmington, North Carolina. He attended and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956. He married his high school sweetheart, Marilyn Alexander, and they moved to Marietta, Georgia, where he went to work for the Lockheed Corporation in the very new computer center. After a brief time in the Army-long enough for a lifetime of stories-he returned to Lockheed and started graduate school at the Georgia Institute of Technology, earning both a Masters and PhD in mathematics. In 1965, he joined the Georgia Tech faculty as a Professor of Mathematics and was affectionately known to students as "Killer Cain." His textbooks on topology and differential equations are featured in curricula around the world. George loved knowledge and conversation and seized any opportunity to mix the two. He was a voracious reader and learner, immersing himself in everything from the German language to Civil War history to HTML. He was an avid baseball and basketball fan and enjoyed walking, cruising, and casinos. A lifelong music aficionado, George found joy in music from Stan Getz to Richard Strauss. He even reinvented his music "career" in his retirement, taking clarinet lessons and playing in two bands for seniors. George is survived by his wife of 59 years, Marilyn; a daughter, Carolyn Naser; and a grandson, Alex Naser. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make donations to the Lustgarden Foundation for pancreatic cancer research(www.lustgarten.org) or the Georgia Tech Foundation (760 Spring St. NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30308). Online condolences may be made at hmpattersoncantonhill.com.