George Benham Seligman

George Benham Seligman, mathematician, died peacefully at the Whitney Center in Hamden, CT on April 25, 2024. He was born April 30, 1927 in Attica, NY to George Frederick and Florence Rose (Benham) Seligman. His birthday came 150 years to the day after the birth of the great mathematician Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss; in later years, George's family always toasted Gauss when they celebrated George's birthday. George was a gifted student, strong athlete, and remembered his years growing up in rural New York fondly. Before graduating from Attica High School, he took and passed the competitive Eddy test, qualifying him for the U.S. Navy's Electronics Training Program. After the war, George returned from Great Lakes Naval Station to New York to attend Sampson College, a temporary college established for veterans under the GI Bill. There, instructors advised him in short order to transfer to a university more suited to his capabilities. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester, was awarded a PhD in mathematics from Yale University in 1954, then became the Henry Burchard Fine Instructor of Mathematics at Princeton. He returned to Yale in 1957, where he was James E. English Professor of Mathematics and researched, taught, and advised for over forty years. (His contributions to the field of Lie algebra and mathematics will be described by others elsewhere.) During the 1958-1959 academic year, he accepted a position as Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Munster and set out to leave the U.S. for the first time. On the ship to Europe he met Irene Schwieder, who was returning to Germany after several years abroad with the German Foreign Service. Although he explained to Irene she would have to share his love with the Boston Red Sox - she had no idea what baseball was - she accepted his proposal. The couple married the following year and settled down in New Haven. They raised two children, traveled widely, and hosted celebrated dinner parties. Irene was a gourmet cook and many welcomed their invitations, especially graduate students on limited incomes who were new to the country. George was an avid gardener and claimed weeding was a productive time for mathematical thought. He loved classical music, read voraciously in several languages, and stayed true to his Red Sox through the best and worst of times. After they became empty nesters, he and Irene especially enjoyed their time south of Paris, where George took two sabbaticals at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques. They shared 64 years of love and devotion before Irene passed away last November. He will be missed beyond words by his daughters Barbara Seligman (Robert Tate) and Karen Seligman Sklenar (Scott Sklenar), and his grandchildren Sarah Sklenar, Rachel Tate, Ben Tate, and John Sklenar. Always humble, his final request was that you remember him fondly if you think of him. Sincere thanks to the aides, nurses, and Whitney Center staff who cared for him with such kindness and generosity. At George's request, there will be no service.