This past week, on May 23, 2015, the much loved and respected John F. Nash Jr., along with his wife, Alicia Nash, passed away in a tragic car accident while returning home from his receipt of the 2015 Abel Prize for his work in partial differential equations. The Nobel winner and his wife were the subject of the 2001 Academy Award winning film A Beautiful Mind. Nash’s most famous contribution to mathematics and economics was in the field of game theory, which has enabled others to build on that work and was the focus of the film.

Nash’s long career as a mathematician was marked by both brilliant achievements and terrible struggles with mental illness. Despite his battle with schizophrenia, Nash inspired generations of mathematicians and garnered a stunning array of awards, including the 1994 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, the American Mathematical Society’s 1999 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research, and the 1978 John von Neumann Theory Prize. We were personally honored in 2003 when Nash presented his work with Mathematica at the International Mathematica Symposium in London.

We are saddened to see the loss of a valuable member of the mathematics community, but will always remember John F. Nash, Jr. for his remarkable life and career. His legacy will remain to encourage us to continue to break new ground, push boundaries, and explore mathematics boldly and fearlessly.