Memorial to Professor Siegfried Schaible
Professor Siegfried Schaible
(August 18, 1940 – September 7, 2014)
Obituary
Professor Siegfried Schaible died on September 7, 2014 at the age of 74. Siegfried
was born to Karl and Lina Schaible in Marburg,
Germany during WWII. After high school graduation, he attended the University
of Mainz where he met his future wife, Ingrid. They married in 1967. Siegfried
studied mathematics and physics and finished two PhDs at the University of
Cologne. In 1979 Siegfried took his wife and three kids and immigrated to
Canada where he taught at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. In
1987 he took a full-time tenured position at the Anderson Graduate School of Management
at UC Riverside in California. In addition, he spent many years traveling and
teaching at universities all over the world. He wrote for and edited many
scientific journals and books in his field of expertise “Generalized
Convexity.” In his spare time Siegfried enjoyed reading theology, taking
pictures, playing the violin and exploring the outdoors. Siegfried was a
widower for 11 years. After his retirement from UCR in 2006, he moved to Taiwan
to teach at Chung Yuan Christian University. He is survived
by his siblings in Germany Dieter Schaible and Waltraut Kippenberger; his
daughter and son-in-law Sue and Frank Suranyi of Camarillo, CA; his
grandchildren Hannah, Joel, Elyse, Emme and Isabelle;
his son and daughter-in-law John and Christy Schaible
of Santa Ana, CA; his grandchildren Cody and Serena; and his daughter Rickie Schaible of Poway, CA. He will be missed by us all.
His family
1. Announcement to WGGC members
Dear
members of WGGC,
On
behalf of the Scientific Committee of our group, I am very sorry to announce
the sad news that Siegfried Schaible, the founder of
our group, passed away the morning of September 7.
Siegfried
is dearly remembered by many members of our group. Not only for his major
contributions to the topics of generalized convexity and generalized
monotonicity, but also because of the special traits that made his personality
so warm and unique.
Siegfried
attended all international symposia on generalized convexity, starting from the
first one in Vancouver, Canada, back in 1980; the only exception was the last
one, a couple of weeks ago, which he did not attend due to his health problems.
During all these years, he was the main driving force of the group; he devoted
most of his energy and his time to the benefit of the group. He always insisted
in the necessity to avoid exclusions, by ensuring a good geographical
distribution and promoting diversity in the topics studied.
He had
more than 60 coauthors during his long scientific career. I was one of them;
actually, it was he who introduced me to generalized convexity, generalized
monotonicity, variational inequalities, and many
other fields in optimization. I will always be grateful to him for his guidance
and friendship. I am sure that many others feel the same.
The
Scientific Committee will honor the memory of Siegfried Schaible
in various opportunities. As a first step, we created a memorial page where the
members who wish to express their thoughts and condolences may do so:
http://www.genconv.org/index.php/39-news/latest-news/98-schaible-memorial
If you
would like to post a contribution in this page, please send a message to genconv@aegean.gr or just reply to this message. Your
contribution will appear in 1-2 days.
Nicolas Hadjisavvas (12/9/2014)
2. Message of Boris Mordukhovich, chair of
WGCC
It is with
great sadness that we heard the loss of Professor Siegfried Schaible.
He was one of the pioneers of Generalized Convexity and Generalized
Monotonicity. He created our group, and collaborated with many of its members.
He will be remembered for his energy and devotion to the group, and also for
his friendly manner towards all of us.
With my
sincere condolences to his family,
Boris
Mordukhovich (13/9/2014)
3. I was
sorry and grieved to hear that Siegfried passed away.
I was
deeply shocked by the sudden death of him.
He gave
me several suggestions and advices with many mathematical sounds.
There
are his great contributions to the progress in optimization especially
generalized convexity, generalized monotonicity, variational
inequalities. Moreover, he sent me warm messages concerning my health several times. He also accepted and used his
Chinese name which was proposed by Prof. Hang-Chin Lai and myself in a taxi
long time ago.
We remember
forever his personality and activity.
Tamaki Tamaka (13/9/2014
4. I am deeply
saddened to learn about the passing of our Honor Chair, Professor Siegfried Schaible, a dear friend and collaborator for many of us.
We share
his family's grief in this time of bereavement with deepest sympathy and
condolence.
Dinh The Luc (13/9/2014)
5. Please accept my deepest sincere condolence on the
death of Siegfried Schaible.
Xun-Hua Gong
(13/9/2014)
6. I'm really
sorry and sad to learn this bad news. Siegfried was indeed a really nice man, I
have lot's of pleasant things to remember him. Since
I was nor able (unfortunately) to attend the meeting
in Rio, I was just thinking whether he could participate...
At this moment I have in mind a nice episode related
to Siegfried. It was in 1996 in Marseille, till then the symposium held each
four years (if I'm not wrong: the site www.genconv.org doesn't work by this
moment, I don't know why, so I cannot check) and starting from then the period
reduced to three years. Any time when a session ended, the chair said (as
usual): "now we take a coffee break". After the last, closing session
Siegfried said: "now we take a coffee break of three years!"...the
next symposium was planned in Samos, 1999...
Gabor Kassay (13/9/2014)
7. I am very sad to lean that
Siegfried passed away. He was a very warm-hearted person and I had met him on
several occasions and had carried out some discussions with him on Generalized convexity. My own younger brother did his PhD in
Economics from UC Riverside and had taken a course in optimization from
Siegfried and he still remembers him fondly.
Joydeep Dutta (13/9/2014)
8. In this sad occasion, I would like to express
my sincere condolences to Professor Siegfried Schaible's
family and members of the Working Group on Generalized Convexity. We all admit
that one of his capabilities was to persuade novice researchers in the area of
Generalized Convexity and generously provide them with new ideas.
I feel
obliged to hereby pay tribute to him and his outstanding leadership of our
group.
Jafar Zafarani (13/9/2014)
9.
Please accept my heartfelt sympathies for our loss. Our thoughts and hearts are
always with you.
Mitra Salehi (13/9/2014)
10. Dear
Siegfried, we had the honor of working with you for many years and enjoy your
precious guidance and friendship. Thank you for being so close to us and also
to our families, sharing moments of study as well of relax. In every moments, you have never missed your sensitivity,
availability and friendship. Thanks again Siegfried, you will always be with
us.
Elisabetta
Allevi and Adriana Gnudi (13/9/2014)
11. Siegfried was a flurry of activity
and has spared no effort and willingness to inform us regularly and respond to
numerous messages.
We are
certainly many people to regret him.
Abd Raouf Chouikha (13/9/2014)
12. Professor Siegfried Schaible
was an excellent colleague and a dear friend.
I have had the honor and privilege a of being
his co author on two papers and one major book. He was a world leader (perhaps THE world
leader) in the field of generalized convexity and monotonicity. His dedication and zest to his research
attracted many others, including myself, to join his path. He was very influential on my early stage
research career and I cherished the dialogues and fierce discussions with him.
He was indeed a truly unique and remarkable person.
He will be missed and remembered.
Israel Zang (14/9/2014)
13. We are deeply sadden to
read that Siegfried passed away. Siegfried was a very gentle personality, an
excellent mathematician and a great organizer. He was the founder of our
Working Group on Generalized Convexity and we attended many of his outstanding
conferences. We admire him and will keep him thankful in our memories.
Diethard Pallaschke and Ryszard
Urbanski (14.09.2014)
14. I miss a dear friend who introduced me to the
community of generalized convexity and monotonicity
Joachim Gwinner (14/9/2014)
15. It has been very sad to know that Professor
Siegfried Schaible has passed away. He has left
behind a legacy which I am sure will be carried forward by a large community of
researchers working in generalized convexity and monotonicity. I met Professor
Siegfried Schaible on a few occasions during
international conferences in Greece, Singapore and Vietnam and had the privilege
of sharing many memorable moments together. May his Soul Rest in Peace.
Pankaj Gupta (14/9/2014)
16. His warm smile, hearty laugh and calm demeanor will always be missed. He
was gentle and giant - made it into so many hearts. Rest
in peace sir.
Aparna Mehra (14/9/2014)
17. I don't know
Prof. Schaible personally, but always thought of
meeting him in some conference. I know him only through his papers in
fractional programming. He was a great researcher and visionary. May his soul rest in peace.
Vikas Sharma (15/9/2014)
18. May God
provide piece to the great soul.
We all are
grateful to his guidance and warm behavior of Prof. Siegfried.
Shashi Kant Mishra (15/9/2014)
19. I am very sad to learn that Siegfried passed away. Over the years
we had together many opportunities to meet and to exchange and I appreciated
Siegfried very much as a man and as a mathematician. The community of
generalized convexity owes him enormously. Thank you Siegfried for all you did
and for all your work. You will remain in our thoughts.
Michel Théra (15/9/2014)
20. I am very sorry to read this sad news. I
will keep Prof. Schaible's kindness and
helps on our past research collaboration in my mind. May his soul rest in peace.
Hui-Ju Chen (15/9/2014)
21. I am deeply saddened to learn
about the sad demise of Prof Schaible.I recollect
meeting him at Edmonton during the summer of 1985 when I was visiting Prof Bector at the University of Manitoba.I
had the privilege of spending a couple of days with him. He was an excellent
person, extra ordinary researcher and a great motivator for young researchers
here in India. May His Soul Rest in Peace.
Suresh Chandra (15/9/2014)
22. Siegfried Schaible
passed away... I got particularly sad learning the news this morning, at Santiago
of Chile.
Apart from being a friend and a
co-author, he was a very warm person. Last but not least, I am indebted to him
for his valuable help at the beginning of my carrier.
Aris Daniilidis (15/9/2014)
23. Even though I was already informed of the
precarious health that Siegfried had in the last times, I have been very sadly
impressed by the news that he passed away. I met Siegfried for the first time
at the ISMP held in Bonn in 1982 and, after meeting him again at several other
conferences, we became friends. We visited each other and coauthored one paper,
joint with Alex Rubinov. I am proud to say that I
attended the dinner, at an Italian restaurant in Ann Arbor during the 1994
ISMP, when he proposed the creation of the WGGC to Bruce Craven, Sándor Komlósi and
me. Since then he has been the soul of our group, and I am sure that his memory
will continue inspiring us. We will miss his warm personality and his
characteristic optimism and good sense of humor.
Juan Enrique Martinez-Legaz (16/9/2014)
24. Since I did not know about Siegfried's health problems I was highly
shocked by the message. My joining our group is due to him: Only two months
before GCM5 in Luminy I became aware of his work on
generalized monotonicity which was related to my own research in economic
theory. I wrote to him and he proposed to participate in the symposium.
However, it was almost too late to register but, fortunately, Siegfried managed
my participation. This conference was the beginning of a long period within which
I have met many kind colleagues stimulating my own work. I owe this experience
to Siegfried and, needless to say, I am deeply grateful to him.
Reinhard
John (16/9/2014)
25. I am
sorry to learn about the demise of Professor Siegfried Schaible.
It is almost impossible to think about WGGC symposiums without his presence.
However, his immense contributions and commitment to work would continue to
motivate many of us.
With
fond memories
C.S. Lalitha (16/9/2014)
26. Dear
Siegfried, I will always remember the nice time we spent together: we started
our scientific collaboration twenty years ago but you became soon a dear friend
of me and of my family. In these days I am looking at the photos we took
together in Stresa and in Milan (surely less than yours...) and many
pleasant memories come back to my mind.
Thank you for your friendiship and guidance.
Monica
Bianchi (17/9/2014)
27. Let
me send my deep condolences to Professor Siegfried Schaible's
Family and Collaborators.
I
studied his papers on vector optimization and variational
inequalities.
I met
him several times in Taiwan and in other countries.
I always
recall his kindness and warm attitude to other people.
Nguyen
Dong Yen (17/9/2014)
28. I
and my family ( my wife, daughter and son ) are very
sorry to hear the sad news that Siegfried passed away. We would like to express
our deepest condolences to his family. I met him several time in UC Riverside,
Busan- Korea, European and Asian countries.
Especially,
the one year 2002 in California bring back lots of good memories. In those
days, I had a good time and job with him to write two nice cowork
papers, to attend INFORMS Annual Meeting 2002-San Jose and so on. I respect to
his academic activities and scientific research works and so I always look up
to Siegfried.
Do Sang
Kim (19/9/2014)
29. I became very sad when I heard that Professor
Siegfried Schaible passed away. We had two joint papers and I learned too
much from him. He was one of the greatest mathematicians who I have ever
seen. In my opinion we lost a valuable
person who could add some interesting results to mathematics and be as a
leadership. I will keep him in my heart and I wish his soul rest in peace.
Ali Farajzadeh (19/9/2014)
30. it˘s
shocking to know the sad news that Siegfried Schaible
passed away the morning of September 8.
He was a
legend in the fields of generalized convexity, generalized monotonicity, variational inequalities, and many other fields in
optimization. Unfortunately, I could not meet him personally, but his
literature always helped me a lot.
He is
physically no more, but the light of his work will keep on guiding us all
through the darkness of ignorance.
He will
always remain in our hearts.
Vivek Laha (19/9/2014)
31. I am
sad to read that Siegfried passed away. He was a courageous person, especially
during these last few years. His energy, activity and his sense of humour remain stimulating for us. He has done much for our
community and we must remain grateful and thoughtful to him.
Jean-Paul
Penot (19/9/2014)
32. I first met Siegfried in Lausanne, at the
16th Symposium on
Mathematical Programming. Since then, I remember him very active and energetic
all the time. He was ready to discuss various subjects in a very friendly
manner and had many
friends from lot of countries. I also felt his benevolence during our joint
work. His advices on publication of my book were very significant for me.
This is
really big loss for our optimization community.
Igor
Konnov (19/9/2014)
33. I am
deeply shocked and very sad after this news.
May
Almighty God forgive the deceased and rest his soul in heavenly peace in Jannah
(near his wife) and
give patience and courage to the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss
(Ameen!).
Qamrul
Hasan Ansari (20/9/2014)
34. It
is so sad news that Professor Siegfried Schaible has
gone. I appreciate that I have several times met his wonderful smile at the
international mathematical conference. I have respect for his life as a great
mathematician. I pray for the repose of him in peace.
Hiroko
Manaka (20/9/2014)
35. I would like to express my
sincere condolences to the family of Professor Siegfried Schaible
and to all members of our Working Group on Generalized Convexity and
Monotonicity. I met Siegfried during the international conferences organized in Samos 1999
and in Varese 2005 and I had the honor of being his co-author on one
paper. He was a very nice and helpful person and a great mathematician.
Ouayl Chadli (21/9/2014)
36. I am truly sorry to hear the sad
news of my sincere friend Siegfried. God bless his soul, and grant all his love
ones patience. Siegfried was a great friend, colleague, and first class
scholar. I enjoyed his company, his great sense of humor, and his lovely
family. He will be dearly missed by all of us at School of Business
Administration at University of California, Riverside. I am sorry that I could
not attend his funeral and express my condolences in person as I am currently
working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. My sincere condolences to
all members of his family, and friends.
Bajis Dodin (22/9/2014)
37. The
sad news of Sieg-Fried Schaible
no longer with us came very sudden. My deepest condolence goes to the grieving
families. His passing away is also a great loss to all of us as his friends and
colleagues.
Well
known for his accomplishment in generalized convexity & monotonicity, Seig-Fried is also known for his warmth and kindness.
Professor Schaible and I were both chair professors
at Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan. Thus I had the honor to work with
him closely for more than 2 years. His work had inspired me of some revelation
in my work of Minimax Programing problems. He told me
his name Seig-Fried means Victor-Peace, therefore,
together with Professor Tamaki Tanaka, we named him a
Chinese name with the same meaning .謝勝平.. He loved this Chinese name and used it with us in Taiwan all the time.
Seig-Fried
will be remembered as a distinguished math scientist and a good friend. His
persistence in pursuing research work and his warm and kind fellowship are
admirable. He had gone through a fulfilling life journey. May he rest in peace!
Hang-Chin Lai (20/9/2014)
38. I am deeply saddened by the news of Professor Siegfried Schaible passing. My thoughts and prayers are with him. I know Professor Schaible by his excellent book (Generalized Concavity). I met him in GCM10, in Romania, and I found him a real gentleman and a perfect scientist.
Please accept my sincere condolences for our loss.
Mohammad Hossein Alizadeh (23/9/2014)
39. My first meeting with Siegfried was in Clermont in 1979, I invited him together with Jacques Ferland who was in sabbatical in Montpellier. I have just obtained my thesis, Siegried was still in Koln and it was an opportunity for me to be in connection with the two people having contributed to quadratic quasiconvex functions. It was the beginning of a long a fruitful friendship.
Siegfried spent a lot of energy in the promotion of generalized convexity and he is at the origin of the working group.
I was sad in learning his death.
jean-pierre crouzeix (23/9/2014)
40. I am very sad to lean that Siegfried passed away. He was a Kindly person. His passing away is also a great loss to all of us as his friends and colleagues. May his soul rest in peace.
Shun-Chin Ho (23/9/2014)
41. I would like to express my deep condolences and warmest feelings to Siegfrieds children. I appreciated his scientific guidance and personal friendship to me since our PhD study long years back at the University of Cologne (Germany). I keep precious memories of the kind hospitality of Siegfried and his wife Ingrid. I will miss his warm-hearted personality and his encouraging believe in Jesus Christ.
Reinhard Haupt (23/09/2014)
42. It is with great sadness that I write this note on my
good friend and mentor Professor Siegfried Schaible.
May god bless his soul and grant his family serenity and patience. Professor Schaible was one of the greatest scholars I had the
privilege and the honor to work with. He was a true scholar, thoughtful, wise
and very respectful to his colleagues. Professor Schaible's
research made great impact in several fields starting with his early work on
Fractional Programming and ending with his work on Generalized Convexity.
Throughout his career, his work has generated over 6900 citations. Professor Schaible was one of the few, in the University of
California, to be elected AAAS-Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, in 1998.
I will certainly miss my office neighbor, his sense of humor and sophisticated jokes. May God bless his soul and grant him his heavens.
Mohsen Elhafsi (23/9/2014)
43. May Allah forgive him and cleanse him of his
transgressions as white cloth is cleansed of stains. May Allah take him into Paradise. May Allah give his family and friends
strength and comfort Ameen...
Sahar Mohamed Ali Abou Bakr (25/9/2104)
44. I am very sad
to read that Professor Siegfried Schaible passed away. I have
several times met him in Taiwan. I can't forget his wonderful smile.
I wish his soul rest in peace.
Tone-Yau Huang (1/10/2014)
45. It was with great sadness and shock that I came across the memorial webpage for Siegfied. I met Siegfried originally in 1980 when I started my career at The University of Alberta. Siegfried was a very active researcher and, as mentioned by many, one always remembers his happy demeanor and fantastic smile.
Siegfried was one of the three organizer of the First NATO conference on Generalized Concavity in Vancouver, Aug. 1980. This was one of the first conferences that I attended and was fantastic. And it led to the classic book and I assume WGGC.
My wife worked with Siegfried as well before changing to differential equations.
Please accept my 'late' sincere condolences to his family and to all his friends.
Henry Wolkowicz (17/8/2018)
46. It is shocking to hear of Professor Schaible’s passing. At this point it is 6 years after he has left us but for me this just as sad. I was one of his students at the MBA program at UC Riverside and he was instrumental in introducing me to and then inspiring me to study mathematical programming and heuristics in my future graduate studies. I was his TA and RA for a number of quarters and will always remember his jovial and friendly nature both in class and outside. In his first meeting with me he asked me how to pronounce my name and what it meant and never forgot it. An impressive person both as an academic and a human being I wish his family the best and hope his soul rests in peace as part of the eternity of the universe.
Rakesh Gupta (17/5/2020)