Jane Brownlee Hazelrig

Dr. Jane Brownlee Hazelrig passed away on Friday, June 7, 2024. She was born in Chattanooga, TN to the late William Russell Brownlee and Elizabeth Marquet Brownlee on May 29, 1937. She is survived by her beloved husband of 65 years, Dr. Cooper Green Hazelrig; her children, Susan Jane Hazelrig and William Russell Hazelrig; her daughter-in-law Catherine Paplin; and grandson Cooper Paplin Hazelrig.

A woman of profound intelligence and strength of will, she was devoted to both work and family, and her loss is deeply mourned by her family and friends. She balanced a career as a biomathematician with being a wife and mother, excelling in her field at a time when few women had a career in the forefront of the developing fields in mathematics and science. When she retired after several decades as a professor in the Department of Biomathematics and Biostatistics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), she became a travel agent for the next 20 years and enjoyed traveling the globe from expeditions in Antarctica to riding through the Arctic on an ice breaker. She and her husband were highly regarded for their dancing skills as a couple, and she played classical and jazz piano and minored in music in college. She also loved opera and good food, and a superlative night out was a Michelin Star-worthy dinner followed by a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, or any opera house.

She graduated from Shades Valley High School (Birmingham) in 1955 as class valedictorian. She then graduated summa cum laude in three years from the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) in 1958, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics. Following her husband to Minnesota during his medical residency at the Mayo Clinic, she earned a Master of Science in Biophysics from the University of Minnesota in 1965 after completing her master’s thesis, “The Simulation of Copper Metabolism.” Following their return home to Birmingham, she then pursued and earned her PhD degree in Biomathematics at UAB in 1976 after defending her doctoral dissertation, “Evaluation of Switching Algorithms as Part of a Modularized Computer Package for Nonlinear Optimization.” She subsequently became a professor at UAB, where she published numerous research papers with colleagues on hypertension and other areas of interest.

Her family remembers, and is inspired by, her boundless curiosity, intelligence, determination, and courage.