William Raymond Wade, UT professor emeritus of mathematics, died November 30 in Brea, California. He was 73.
He had a distinguished 43-year career at the university, including service as associate head for undergraduate studies in the Department of Mathematics, before he retired in 2011.
A native of Los Angeles, Wade graduated from Puente High School in 1961. He attended the University of California, Riverside, where he earned a doctorate in mathematics in 1968. His dissertation focused on harmonic analysis.
Internationally recognized for his research in dyadic harmonic analysis, he held visiting professorships at the University of Southern California; Moscow State University, where he lectured in Russian; the Indian Statistical Institute; and Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. In addition to publishing more than 60 papers in some of the world’s top mathematical journals, Wade was the author, with F. Schipp, P. Simon, and J. Pal, of the monograph Walsh Series: An Introduction to Dyadic Harmonic Analysis as well as the widely adopted senior- and graduate-level text An Introduction to Analysis. In 2003 an international conference was held in Hungary in honor of his 60th birthday, culminating in a festschrift—a collection of writings in his honor—in the journal Acta Mathematica.
Wade received a teaching award from the UT College of Arts and Sciences and was a three-time winner of the Mathematics Graduate Student Association prize for best teacher of a graduate course. In 2006 he was honored with UT’s National Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award. He served from 1994 through 2003 as associate head for undergraduate studies in the Department of Mathematics and received the Dean’s Award for Extraordinary Service in recognition of his long service in that position.
After retiring from UT in 2011, he became chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Biola University in La Mirada, California, a position he held until shortly before his death.
Wade was ordained as a pastor and served at Oakwood Baptist Church in Knoxville. He also was a member of the trumpet section of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for several years, as well as an accomplished photographer and avid handball player.
He is survived by his wife Cherri, sons Peter and Benjamin, and sister Sheila Wright. A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. December 29 at Redemption Hill Church in Whittier, California.