Frank Samuel BECKMAN

BECKMAN, Frank Samuel, Ph.D., 88, of Richmond, Va., passed away on Friday, October 16, 2009. He was the beloved husband of the late Shirley Beckman, devoted father of Susan Feller of Goochland, Va. and Denise and Jonathan Beckman of New Jersey; cherished grandfather of Michael, Brian and Andrew Feller of Goochland, Va. Dr. Beckman was employed by IBM from 1951 until 1971. From 1971 until 1985, he was the founder and chair of the Computer and Information Science Department at Brooklyn College, and from 1985 until 1993, he was the founder and executive director of the computer science Ph.D. program at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Dr. Beckman was a U.S. Army veteran of WWII and was a graduate of City College, where he earned a B.S. degree in Mathematics and earned his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics at Columbia University. Dr. Beckman was a member of the American Mathematical Society, Mathematics Association of America and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Dr. Beckman was an active member of the Baker Street Irregulars, an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts, and Dr. Beckman was a professor emeritus at Brooklyn College. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, October 25, 2009 at Beth Shalom Gardens, 2001 Lauderdale Drive, Richmond, Va. 23238. Memorial donations in memory of Dr. Frank Samuel Beckman may be made to the American Mathematical Society, www.ams.org/development.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.