HING TONG

HING TONG, a leading American mathematician who taught at Wesleyan from 1954–67, and who served as chairman of the mathematics department, died Mar. 4, 2007. He was 85. Born in Canton, China, he came to the United States at the age of 12. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Columbia. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa and to Sigma Xi, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he studied with John Von Neumann. He also taught at Canton University and at Reed and Barnard colleges. A specialist in algebraic topology and analysis, he is well known for the original proof of the Katetov-Tong insertion theorem. After leaving Wesleyan, he taught at Fordham, where he also served as department chair, and from which he retired in 1984. He is survived by his wife, mathematician Dr. Mary Powderly Tong, five children; and two grandchildren.