Dear Bob, This is very unexpected and sad news indeed. Without him knowing, Dietmar was one of my early heroes when, under the direction of Nico Pumpluen, I started my Master's thesis project on algebraic theories and monads in early 1970. His paper on "Minimale und maximale Tripelerzeugende und eine Bemerkung zur Tripelbarkeit" ("Minimal and maximal generators for triples and a remark on tripleability") had just appeared in Arch. Math. (1969), and I felt very lucky when shortly afterwards I got hold of a copy of his Ph. D. thesis written under the direction of the general algebraist Walter Felscher at the University of Freiburg, on which the Archiv article was based. I think that it was only in the 1980s that I first met Dietmar. When I told him then how much his Ph. D. thesis had helped me organize my Master's thesis, he replied "Ach, das war doch alles nur trivialer Quatsch" ("Oh, that was all just trivial nonsense"). He was so talented and knowledgeable and yet so modest that he just couldn't ever admit to having done something important or beautiful! He'll be missed by many of us! Walter Quoting Robert Pare <R.Pare@Dal.Ca>:
It is with great sadness that I announce that my longtime friend and collaborator, Dietmar Schumacher, died on Wednesday September 17, 2014, of a massive stroke.
It was in 1971, when he took up his position at Acadia University, that he left a note on my office door introducing himself and suggesting we meet to discuss category theory. We did and that was the start of our long collaboration. We also started, in 1972, the category seminar which still runs today, 42 years later. For many years he would drive the 100 kms from Wolfville every week to attend the seminar, and drive back afterwards. He would sometimes speak in the seminar or, if not, stimulated discussion with his penetrating questions. The last few years, he came less often as he found the drive tiring, but invariably he would read up on the topic of the week and always emailed me a question or two about it. He kept up his interest in category theory until the end. He came to the first seminar this year, just two weeks ago, looking strong and fit as ever.
We'll miss his wry sense of humour. His way of apologizing for some little thing, and then apologizing for apologizing.
Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
Bob
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