Lewis C. Robertson

Lewis C. Robertson, professor of mathematics, emeritus, passed away on Dec. 22, 2018, at the age of 80. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago and his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before teaching at Wesleyan, he was an assistant professor at the University of Washington. He taught at Wesleyan from 1970 to until his retirement in 1998. A passionate mathematician, Robertson conducted scholarly research on Lie groups, topological groups, and representation theory, and often collaborated with his Wesleyan colleagues on papers. Carol Wood, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, emerita, said, “Lew was a gentle fellow, and unfailingly kind. As a mathematician he was extremely self-effacing. Nonetheless, it was impossible for him to hide his mathematical ability. Lew was a regular in the topology seminar over the decades, and when a topic (often outside his area of expertise) caught his interest, the depth of his comments would yet again remind me that Lew was a gifted mathematician.” Robertson is survived by his wife of 44 years, Janet; their son, Michael; one child from a previous marriage, Laureen; Janet’s daughters from a previous marriage, Julie and Jeanne; and eight grandchildren.