Henry C. Wente Ph.D.

1936 - 2020

Henry C. Wente, PhD

Henry C. Wente, 83, of Toledo, passed away on Monday, January 20, 2020. He was born in New York, NY on August 18, 1936 to Edward C. and Sophia (Brockman) Wente. Henry grew up in the Summit, NJ area and attended Summit High School. He attend Harvard University for both his undergraduate and graduate education, graduating with the PhD in Mathematics under the supervision of Garret Birkhoff in 1966 with a thesis on the existence and stability of constant mean curvature surfaces. As an undergraduate at Harvard he was a member of Harvard's Putnam Competition mathematical team. He taught at Tufts University before Joining the Department of Mathematics at The University of Toledo in 1971. Both in high school and at Harvard he participated in track and field, placing fifth in the long jump in the New Jersey state finals. Henry was a gifted musician and played piano, flute and piccolo. He enjoyed singing and participated in the both the Hope Lutheran Choir and Ben Locke Chorale, often performing as a soloist. All his life he was an avid athlete who very much enjoyed outdoor activities including biking and cross country skiing.

In the world of mathematics he is recognized for the discovery of the Wente Torus, a soap bubbles surface that is not sphere. This and other contributions brought him international recognition that included an invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1986, visiting appointments on many occasions at the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences in Leipzig, and in 2013 the honor of becoming an Inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Henry is survived by his brother, Edward Frank Wente, of Chicago, IL; longtime friend, Marilyn Rose; his cousins William and Donato Brockman and numerous colleagues; and countless students and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents.

Friends will be received on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at Hope Lutheran Church, 2201 Secor Road, Toledo, OH 43606 beginning at 12 Noon until the time of Funeral Service at 1:00 p.m. Burial will follow in The Historic Woodlawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hope Lutheran church. Arrangements were entrusted to Walker Funeral Home, Toledo (419-841-2422).

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