Christopher Cherniak

1945 - 2025

Christopher George Cherniak was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 5, 1945, and passed away on March 13, 2025, in Washington, DC. During his early childhood, Chris and his parents, artist Sallie ("Sally") Marie Goulston Cherniak and aeronautical engineer George Sadwin Cherniak, and his younger brother Gregory Charles Cherniak lived in Cambridge. When George Cherniak joined the engineering team at Cape Canaveral to help manage the U.S. space program, the family moved to Florida.
Chris often reminisced about the excitement of watching the early rocket launches. As an honor student at Melbourne High School, Chris began what would be a life-long fascination with all things scientific, eventually focusing on the neural connectivity of living systems. As the top winner in the 1962 Science Talent Search, he won a scholarship to Harvard College and, after graduating from Harvard, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1978.
Chris's academic career took him around the world. He taught for many years at Tufts University and then served on the University of Maryland faculty for more than thirty years, teaching philosophy, conducting cutting-edge research in the neurosciences, and inspiring several generations of graduate students. His publications include the influential book Minimal Rationality and a host of articles on such topics as computational complexity, optimal-wiring models of neuroanatomy, and global optimization of cerebral cortex layout.
A tall (6'6") and gentle giant, Chris is survived by friends, students, and colleagues who will miss his wicked sense of humor, often startling breadth of knowledge, and insatiable curiosity about science, art, popular culture, and philosophy.
A visitation will be held on Sunday March 23 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Hines-Rinald Funeral Home, 11800 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20904. On March 24, a funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home with a burial to follow at Maryland National Cemetery.