Ronald Graham, 1935-2020


Ron Graham, a leader in discrete mathematics and a former president of both the AMS (1993-1994) and the MAA (2003-2004), died July 6. He was 84. Graham published more than 350 papers and books with many collaborators, including more than 90 with his wife, Fan Chung, and more than 30 with Paul Erdős. In addition to writing articles with Paul Erdős, Graham had a room in his house reserved for Erdős's frequent visits, he administered the cash prizes that Erdős created for various problems, and he created the Erdős number, which is the collaboration distance between a mathematician and Erdős. He also created Graham's number in a 1971 paper on Ramsey theory written with Bruce Rothschild, which was for a time the largest number used in a proof.

Graham was known for his infectious enthusiasm, his originality, and his accessibility to anyone who had a mathematics question. Along with his many accomplishments in mathematics, Graham was also an accomplished juggler, so much so that he served as president of the International Jugglers Association in 1972, and was skilled in gymnastics and the trampoline.

Among the honors Graham received are SIAM's inaugural Pólya Prize in Applied Combinatorics in 1971 (one of five people honored that year), the Carl Allendoerfer Award from the MAA in 1990 (for an article co-authored with Fan Chung and Martin Gardner), the Lester R. Ford Award from the MAA in 1991 (for an article co-authored with Frances Yao), the inaugural Euler Medal from the Institute of Combinatorics and Its Applications in 1993 (with Claude Berge), and the AMS's Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2003 (along with Victor Guillemin). He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1983, the Gibbs Lecturer in 2000, a member of the Inaugural Class of AMS Fellows in 2012, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Grant Imahara, an electrical engineer and roboticist who hosted the popular science show MythBusters and Netflix's White Rabbit Project, has died. He was 49.

Imahara died suddenly following a brain aneurysm, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. "We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family," a representative for Discovery said in a statement on Monday.

An electrical engineer and roboticist by training, he joined Discovery's MythBusters in its third season, replacing Scottie Chapman and was with the show until 2014 when he left with co-hosts Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. The trio would reunite in 2016 for Netflix's White Rabbit Project which lasted for one season. On MythBusters, Imahara used his technical expertise to design and build robots for the show and also operated the computers and electronics needed to test myths.

While part of the Mythbusters team, he sky-dived and drove stunt cars, on film sets he came into contact with some of the most iconic characters in screen history, installing lights onto Star Wars' R2-D2, creating the robot Geoff Peterson for The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and working on the Energizer Bunny.

On Monday evening, Imahara's MythBusters and White Rabbit Project co-host Byron tweeted, "Sometimes I wish I had a time machine," and included a picture with Imahara and Belleci.

Later on Monday, Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage also tweeted: "I’m at a loss. No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend."

Born in Los Angeles, Imahara studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California (though he briefly had doubts and wanted to become a screenwriter) before combining the two passions and landing a post-graduation gig at Lucasfilm-associated THX labs. In his nine years at Lucasfilm, he worked for the company's THX and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) divisions. In his years at ILM he became chief model maker specializing in animatronics and worked on George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, as well as The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Galaxy Quest, XXX: State of the Union, Van Helsing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Darn. Way too young. The Mythbusters team seemed like such nice people to hang out with. Grant Imahara dies at age 49 from a brain aneurysm:

Edmonton-born SNFU frontman Ken Chinn (aka Mr. Chi Pig) dead at age 57

Former Vancouver Canucks defenceman and coach Jack McIlhargey has died.

The Canucks confirmed the death on Monday. The Edmonton native was 68.

McIlhargey played 393 career games with the Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers and Hartford Whalers from 1974 to 1982 before becoming a coach.

McIlhargey returned to the Canucks as an assistant coach from 1985 to 1991 before spending the next eight years as head coach of Vancouver minor-league affiliates in Milwaukee, Hamilton and Syracuse, N.Y.

After that run, McIlhargey went back to Vancouver as an assistant for four years and as an associate coach for two years.

Regis Philbin, the genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," has died at 88.