Nicholas Branca. It is with deep sadness to inform you that Nicholas Branca passed away suddenly on Monday, February 25, 2008, while traveling in Australia. Nicholas will be greatly missed as a dear colleague and a highly respected scholar.

Alma Morosz died on July 2, 2007. There was be a celebration of Alma Marosz's life hosted by her daughter, Kathleen Marosz, on Thursday, August 9, 2007 at the La Mesa Community Center. A program and luncheon was held. Kathie Ross helped with the arrangements.

The family suggests donations to the Alma Marosz Memorial Scholarship at the Reuben H. Fleet ScienceCenter, P.O. Box 93303,San Diego, CA 92163.

Dr. R. Deanne Branstetter was on our faculty from 1955 to 1981. Dr. Branstetter was born on June 29, 1918 and died March 12, 2007. He grew up on an 80 acre farm in Curryville, Missouri. Dean graduated from NE Missouri State Teachers College in 1940 with a BS in Mathematics. It was there that he met Geraldine Gehrke whom he married and celebrated 62 years of marriage before her death in 2005.

During WWII, Deanne served as a navigator in the Army Air Corps. After the war, he continued his graduate studies, completing his Masters at Vanderbilt University and his PhD in Mathematics at Iowa State University. His career then took him to Colorado Springs where he worked for the Air Defense Command as an Operations Analyst. After two years, he made a career change and moved his family to San Diego, where he taught mathematics at San Diego State College for 26 years. In 1967 he was honored with the Distinguished Teaching Award by the State of California.

The students at San Diego State also awarded him with an Outstanding Teacher Award. Professor Branstetter served as a member of the Statewide Academic Senate and served as Chairman of the San Diego State College Senate.
Besides teaching, he served for a time as the Mathematics Department Chairman (1964-67) and as Dean of Undergraduate Studies for the College. He retired from teaching at San Diego State in 1981. Retirement led to touring much of the world and teaching as a guest professor at many universities. He taught Probability and Statistics for 10 years at Brigham Young University and also had assignments for teaching a semester in Hawaii and at Kansas State University. At BYU he was active as a volunteer in helping students prepare for their actuarial exams. BYU granted him the rank of Professor Emeritus and recognized him for outstanding service to the university. Burial is in Derby, Kansas.

Dr. Herbert A. Gindler, Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University, suffered an apparent stroke on the evening of Tuesday, June 7, 2005 and died the next morning. Herb obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota in 1950. He came to the Mathematics Department at SDSU in 1960, and earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1961, under the direction of Angus Taylor at UCLA. Herb's area of specialization was Functional Analysis and Operator Theory. He also published papers on the teaching of calculus. For personal reasons, Herb became interested in Diabetes, and he organized a continuing seminar in mathematical modeling of Diabetes in 1983. Many of our faculty participated in that seminar, which ran for several years.

Herb is survived by his ex-wife, Carol Geertz, his son Daniel, and his daughter Leah. A service was held on Sunday, June 12, 2005 with a reception of family, friends, and colleagues celebrating the life of Dr. Gindler.

Dr. Saul Drobnies, Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University, died October 22, 2002, at San Diego Hospice, of lung cancer. He was born on June 8, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, and moved with his parents, Abraham and Lee Drobnies, to Dallas, Texas, when he was five years old. He graduated from Forest Avenue High School in Dallas in January, 1950, and briefly attended Southern Methodist University before moving to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where he received all of his academic degrees. He studied with the renowned mathematician and teacher, R. L. Moore, and completed his doctoral studies in 1961 under the guidance of Hubert S. Wall. Dr. Drobnies worked for General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas, and taught mathematics at San Diego State University from 1963 until his retirement in the early nineties.

He is survived by his former wife and friend, Ana LaReal Drobnies, of San Diego; by his sister, Naomi Baxter, of Yorba Linda, California; and by his daughter, Adrienne Drobnies, and granddaughter, Ariel Fournier, both of Vancouver, Canada. Saul's intelligence, humor, and gentle spirit will be missed by family, friends, and former students. No formal services were held and ashes were scattered at sea on November 1, 2002. Contributions may be made in his name to San Diego Hospice, 4311 Third Avenue, San Diego, 92103.

Dr. Edgar Howard, Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University, died September 20, 2001. Dr. Howard was born March 4, 1932 and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At the age of 19 he joined the Marine Corps and served as a radio operator during the Korean War. (His elbow makes a short but significant appearance in the movie "Battle Cry.") After his service, he returned to San Diego, where he had gone through basic training, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Physics (1959) and a Master's degree in Mathematics (1961) at San Diego State University. He then went into the Ph.D. program in Mathematics at New Mexico State University. On earning his Doctorate in 1964, Edgar spent two years at Idaho State University and in 1966 he became Assistant Professor of Mathematics at San Diego State University. He rose to the rank of Professor, and he retired in 1997. Edgar was a very fine teacher of Mathematics. He was named Most Influential Faculty Member by the outstanding graduating Math major 3 times. Additionally, he directed numerous Master's theses.

Like Gene Lopez, who died in late 2000, Edgar was a fine teacher who was honored several times with awards for outstanding teaching. In their honor, the Department has established the Gene Lopez and Edgar Howard Memorial Fund. All contributions will be used to promote and enhance the "mathematical culture" of our undergraduate programs. Details may be found on the department's website at http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/math_stat/memorial.htm.

Dr. Gene Lopez was born in 1926 and grew up in La Verne, California during the Great Depression. After serving in the army during World War II, he earned a scholarship to attend The University of California at Los Angeles. After earning his B.S. in Mathematics in 1951, Gene went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Mathematics from UCLA in 1961, under the supervision of Magnus Hestenes.

Gene came to the Mathematics Department at San Diego State University in 1961. He was a gentle man whose quiet demeanor seemed to captivate students during his lectures. His classes were often on a list of most popular in the University, a distinction which is unusual for Mathematics courses. He won the TRW Excellence in Teaching Award in 1999. Gene retired from teaching in the Spring of 2000. The Department has established the Gene Lopez and Edgar Howard Memorial Fund. All contributions will be used to promote and enhance the "mathematical culture" of our undergraduate programs. Details may be found on the department's website at http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/math_stat/memorial.htm.