Cornel Pasnicu

Cornel Pasnicu, affectionately known as Cornele or Dom Profesor, fell asleep in the Lord on July 30, 2024, at the age of 70 in San Antonio, Texas. He was born on September 6, 1953 in Bucharest, Romania, as the son of late Tanasa and Xenia-Adina Pasnicu. He was a founder and active member of the St. John Cassian Romanian Orthodox Church in San Antonio, Texas.

Cornel is survived by his wife of 36 years, Adina Pasnicu. He leaves behind his daughter, Nastasia Laura and his son in law, Harry, as well as his cherished and beloved grandson, Harry Andres (Andresito).

Cornel followed his entire school education at the “Liceul George Sincai” in Bucharest. He discovered early on a passion for mathematics, but had multiple interests in music, literature and sport. He won many prizes at math competitions throughout his high school years, was a member of varsity volleyball teams and a valedictorian student upon graduation in 1972. He then went on to study at the prestigious Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Bucharest, where he was for five consecutive years a recipient of the National Romanian Bursary for Best Students in Mathematics. He obtained there his BA in 1976 and his MS in 1977, both having Ciprian Foias as adviser, graduating with one of the top GPA of the 1977 class (a class considered by many as the best in the history of the University of Bucharest). He soon integrated the famed Romanian functional analysis group of the Institute of Mathematics in Bucharest, led by Foias. He started to write research articles in the areas of operator theory and operator algebras as early as 1978. He became a PhD student under the supervision of Dan Voiculescu, defending his thesis in 1987. His research articles leading to his PhD thesis earned him the “1988 Simon Stoilow Prize” of the Romanian Academy, the most prestigious award for mathematicians “under 40” in Romania.

He was employed as a principal researcher at the Institute of Mathematics in Bucharest from 1980 until 1991. During 1991-1992 he had visiting positions at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and the University of Toronto, Canada. In July 1992 he was hired as an Associate Professor at the University of Puerto Rico, where he was promoted to Full Professor with tenure in 1997. In 2011 he moved to the University of Texas, San Antonio, where he has been a full professor all the way until his untimely passing.

He was a highly appreciated teacher throughout his academic career. While demanding and exigent in his classes, his clear style, constant care and humor made him much praised by his students. Cornel’s passion for mathematics was however mainly focused on his research in Functional Analysis, in the areas of Operator Theory and Operator Algebras. He had many important, pioneering contributions to the study of the structure and classification of nuclear C*-algebras. In a research career spanning 47 years of intense activity, he published over 50 research articles in top mathematics journals, by himself or with collaborators (of which he had fifteen, both young beginners and leading, established specialists). His research was recognized by numerous citations by his peers and by several Grants of the National Academy of Science and a Grant from the US Army Research Office. He was invited to give talks at a large number of conferences and research meetings.

Cornel was in love with music. His interest expands from deep hard rock to classical music, with a special love for opera and one concert, in particular, the Adagio by Albinoni. He loved to read and among his favorite books were The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. A typical Saturday for Cornel would include a walk in Fredericksburg or Comfort, enjoying a fine dining or dessert or, as he used to say, “proving an interesting theorem.”

Family and friends are invited to join in prayer for the Wake and Trisagion Prayers that will take place at Porter Loring Mortuary North, 2102 N Loop 1604 East, San Antonio, on August 2, 2024, at 6:30 pm.

Funeral Services will take place at St. John Cassian Romanian Orthodox Church, 1801 W Thorain Blvd, San Antonio, on August 3, from 10:00 am with interment immediately following at the Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Monastery – Kendalia, 2191 Twin Sisters Dr, Spring Branch, Texas.

May his memory be eternal!