Herman Edward Scheiblich

Herman Edward Scheiblich (Ed) was born September 8, 1939 in Marlin, Texas, to Herman Henry Scheiblich and Norma Wren Scheiblich (nee Mahan). By his own account he had an idyllic childhood; his father owned a grocery store in town and his mother was a homemaker. His prized companion was his pony, Brownie. He would watch Roy Rogers movies and act out the scenes with his six shooters. He had one surviving sibling, Norma Sue, with whom he still had weekly conversations.

After high school graduation in 1957, Ed attended Presbyterian Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He later transferred to University of Texas Austin, where he received a BA, MA, and finally in 1966 a PhD in Mathematics. His thesis was titled “Congruences on an Inverse Semigroup.” He married Martha Ann Hudson of Mexia, Texas, in 1964.

In 1966, Ed took a position as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina. This was the closest position to the coast he could get, as he wanted to go offshore fishing as frequently as possible. Martha and Edward had two sons: Paul Edward in 1977; and Heath Erwin in 1982.

Ed’s main area of research was in the area of algebraic semigroups, related to which he wrote numerous research papers; he was proudest of his paper that described the structure of free inverse semigroups. He also wrote extensively on bands and *-bands (read "star bands"). Edward was promoted to full professor, and he led four PhD students and a score of MS students in their studies. However, his true passion was teaching rather than pure research, and he frequently taught calculus courses for beginning graduate students and summer courses for high school teachers who were prospective calculus instructors. He retired from his position at USC in 1997.

Martha and Ed divorced after 30 years of marriage. After their separation, he met Linda Gladden York. They bonded over a shared love of fishing and duplicate bridge, and they became an inseparable pair for three decades. They both became bridge Life Masters (Ed a Ruby Life Master and Linda a Silver Life Master), and enjoyed many Caribbean fishing trips together. Linda’s family included him and his sons in all their special occasions, and her children Billy and Tracey were wonderfully kind. Edward’s health began to decline in his last decade and Linda took the lead in taking care of him.

Ed was an avid outdoorsman, and he loved fishing and hunting. While his health did not permit him to do much at the end, he still enjoyed bridge and gardening, especially growing tomatoes. He is survived by his sons, Paul and Heath; his sister, Sue Kirkpatrick of College Station, Texas; and by his long-time partner, Linda, and her family.

A celebration of life for Ed will be held Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Dunbar Funeral Home, Northeast Chapel, 4219 Hard Scrabble Rd, Columbia, South Carolina 29223. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Oliver Gospel Mission (https://www.olivergospel.org/donate) or St. Jude’s Hospital (https://www.stjude.org/)