INFORMS is deeply saddened to share the passing of Philip S. Wolfe, a founding father in the field of optimization who was presented with the John von Neumann Theory Prize by ORSA and TIMS. His family and friends are in our thoughts.
Mathematician Philip Wolfe died on December 29 after a brief illness. Born in California in 1927, he entered the University of California at Berkeley before being drafted into the U.S. Army in World War II. After the war he returned to the university and earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics before accepting an internship with George Dantzig at the Air Force’s Project SCOOP (Scientific Computation of Optimal Programs).
Wolfe then accepted a position at Princeton, where he conducted research that focused on quadratic programming, and also developed an interest in computing. Wolfe then went to work for RAND and joined their computing group, where he collaborated with other leaders in mathematics to improve the simplex algorithm. For the remainder of his career, he worked in IBM’s research division where he led a group focused on optimization.
He is survived by his wife, Hallie Flanagan Wolfe, his daughter Sarah of Whitehorse, Canada, and grandchildren Duncan and Sidney. Phil was known for his kindness to younger researchers and for clear and interesting lectures. He and Hallie have lived in Ossining, New York for the past 48 years.
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Ashley Kilgore
Manager, Public Relations
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
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