Qi Zhang

Qi Zhang, age 65, passed away suddenly in his sleep at home on April 20, 2025.
He was born on April 18, 1960, in Shanghai, China, to ShiJie Zhang and Xiaomei Jiang. A gifted student with a lifelong passion for mathematics, Qi placed second in the highly competitive Shanghai district mathematics competition during high school. This extraordinary achievement earned him direct admission to Fudan University on a full scholarship, bypassing the national Gaokao - China's highly competitive college entrance examination - a rare and prestigious honor.
Qi received his Bachelor of Science from Fudan University in 1982, his Master of Science from Rice University in 1987, and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1990, all in mathematics.
He began his academic career as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, he joined the University of Missouri in Columbia as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics, where he taught and conducted research for over three decades, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2006. He also served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Nancy in France and the University of Tokyo in Japan, and from 2021 to 2024, was a Professor of Mathematics at ShanghaiTech University.
Throughout his career, Qi published numerous research papers, all in peer-reviewed mathematics journals. Many of these appeared in top-tier journals recognized for their significance in the mathematical community. He also co-authored a book with colleagues from the University of Missouri, titled Vector Bundles and Representation Theory.
Qi was a leading expert in higher-dimensional algebraic geometry and made numerous significant contributions to the field. His groundbreaking research on adjunction bundles has been widely admired and has influenced a generation of algebraic geometers. In a brilliant work published in 2006, he resolved a long-standing conjecture in Mori's Minimal Model Program-one of the most important projects in algebraic geometry-by proving the Kollár–Miyaoka–Mori conjecture on the rational connectedness of Q-Fano varieties.
He was regularly invited to speak at leading institutions and international conferences, with talks delivered at Princeton University, Purdue University, the University of Essen in Germany, and across Japan and China, reflecting his standing as a respected scholar in his field.
Outside of his professional life, Qi had a wide range of passions. He was a fan of the Duke basketball team, and he found joy in fishing, raising tropical fish, collecting and building model boats, and reading Chinese fantasy novels. He loved watching Chinese dramas, especially those rooted in history and mythology, and treasured time spent with his family, who were always at the center of his life.
Qi will be remembered not only for his extraordinary intellect, but also for his humility, quiet strength, sense of humor, and the deep care he showed to those around him.
He was preceded in death by his father, ShiJie Zhang, and his mother-in-law, Yuling Sun. He is survived by his beloved wife, Jingyan Xia; his daughter, Stephanie Zhang; his brother, Lin "Timothy" Zhang; and his father-in-law, Daocang Xia.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at Parker-Millard Funeral Service in Columbia, Missouri. Visitation begins at 9:00 AM, and the Funeral service will begin at 10:00 AM.
Arrangements are under the direction of Parker-Millard Funeral Service & Crematory, 12 East Ash Street, Columbia, MO 65203 (573) 449-4153. Condolences may be left online for the family at www.millardfamilychapels.com
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly asks that donations be made to the American Heart Association in Qi's memory.