William H. Reid

Prof. William Hill Reid, a prominent physical applied mathematician, passed away on January 31, 2016 at age 89 with his loving family by his side. Prof. Reid is recognized worldwide for his many significant and lasting contributions to the fields of applied mathematics and geophysics. Born on September 10, 1926 in Oakland, CA to the late William MacDonald and Edna (Hill) Reid, Prof. Reid graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949 with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. His undergraduate study at Berkeley was interrupted by his service in the Merchant Marine in the Pacific from 1945 to 1947. After also receiving his M.S. degree in 1951 from Berkeley, he embarked on his doctoral study at Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he joined a group of young researchers and graduate students from all over the world doing research in the then emerging field of turbulence. Completing his doctoral thesis at Cambridge, he began his formal academic career at Brown University at Providence, RI in 1958, it was at Brown where Prof. Reid met his wife Elizabeth. They married in spring of 1962. In 1963, Prof. Reid was recruited to the University of Chicago as one of the founding members of the Applied Mathematics Program in the Department of Mathematics. He retired from the University in 1989 and accepted a position in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis where he continued his teaching and research. He remained in Indianapolis until his move to Jacksonville, FL in 2007. Prof. Reid leaves behind to cherish his memory, his wife of 53 years, Elizabeth and daughter, Margaret. Memorial contributions may be made to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, 4266 Sunbeam Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32257.