[Bill's category papers were concerned mostly with categories of algebras, his non-mathematical works with the spreading of the Baha'i faith.] The Globe and Mail 29 May 2006 LIVES LIVED Facts & Arguments William S. Hatcher Roshan Danesh 663 words A18 Husband, father, mathematician, philosopher, pursuer of authenticity. Born Sept. 20, 1935, in Charlotte, N.C. Died Nov. 27, 2005, in Stratford, Ont., of a heart attack, aged 70. I always looked up to my uncle, William Hatcher. Truly, almost everyone who met him looked up to him. At 6-foot-6, and with the physical size and booming voice that betrayed his roots in the deep south of the United States, he was pretty much always the largest presence wherever he found himself. But for my uncle Bill, physical presence was merely the reflection of the other ways in which he was a towering figure. His mind was what made him most well-known. He brought an iron-clad precision and clarity to the most ubiquitous, essential, and seemingly eternal questions of human life. In his early 20s, he began contemplating a logical proof of the existence of God. When he fully completed the proof some decades later, he travelled over many years to universities across Canada, the United States, and Europe, where he explicated the proof to packed audiences. The logical proof was one of Bill's most characteristic achievements. It was the perfect blending of the two passions of his mind science and religion. A mathematician and philosopher at Universiti Laval for more than 30 years, he was listed as one of the eight Platonist philosophers of the latter half of the 20th century in the respected Encylopidie Philosophique Universelle. His contribution to the study of religion, and in particular the Baha'i faith a subject on which he co-authored the seminal introductory text led him to be recognized as one of the greatest scholars of Baha'i studies. But it was uncle Bill's qualities of heart that I will remember most. He was staunchly committed to the pursuit of authentic relationships and the principle that love is expressed through self-sacrifice, service, altruism, and putting others ahead of oneself. He captured this theme in his book Love, Power, and Justice: The Dynamics of Authentic Morality. One time he said I should simply look around me when walking down the street and reflect on my reaction to those I saw. He was giving me a lesson about how to stay conscious of my own prejudices, my own self-interested commitments which, he insisted, were reflections of a failure to authentically love and relate to other human beings. Uncle Bill constantly pursued authenticity in his own life, and strived to live a life characterized by service to others. Of course, he sometimes failed, but he often succeeded. Sometimes his actions took the form of grand gestures such as moving to Russia at a dangerous time because there were contributions he could make as the society emerged from the communist era. Other times it was in the simple sweetness of how he always was prepared to listen to one's ideas, share his thoughts, and encourage one to do better. Like all high-achievers, Bill was constantly striving to do better. In the last few years, he seemed to become a little doubtful of whether his myriad accomplishments (raising three children with his wife Judith, training thousands of young minds, publishing more than 50 books and articles, being a leader of the Baha'i community of Canada and one of its leading scholars) were enough. To those of us who knew him intimately and loved him dearly, it was hard to take such insecurities seriously. My uncle Bill touched the hearts of thousands of people, and helped educate, refine, and inspire their minds. The gifts he gave others through his writings and teaching, and his acts of kindness, were more than we could fairly expect from anybody. The gift he gave me was clear: Be humble, strive as hard as you can, and be a lover of humanity. I will cherish that gift forever. Roshan is William Hatcher's nephew. Illustration