Mathematician:George Daniel Parker

Co-author of:
 * 1981: (with )
 * 1991: (with )

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=George-Parker&lc=4007&pid=174030692&mid=6304198

George D. Parker, 69, formerly of Carbondale, Illinois, died in hospice care due to complications from Parkinson's disease at 6 am on February 1st, 2015 in Timonium, MD, near to his children and grandchildren.

George was born February 9, 1945 in Randolph, VT to Alice D. and Wilmond W. Parker. He grew up and was educated in Randolph. In the summer of 1962 he attended a program at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he met his future wife Marjorie (Margie) Ainscough. Both went on to attend Brown and graduated in 1967 with degrees in mathematics. They were married on August 12, 1967 and moved to San Diego where George earned his Ph.D in mathematics from UCSD in 1972. They then relocated to Carbondale where George joined the mathematics faculty at Southern Illinois University, where he worked until his retirement in 2010.

George is survived by his son Robert of Owings Mills, MD; daughter Cheryl Miller of Timonium, MD, son-in-law Kendall Miller, and their three children Galen, Micah, and Fiona; sister Elinor Jamieson of Vermont; sister Elizabeth (Pat) Catlett and her husband JT of Maine; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and one brother-in-law.

During his academic career at SIUC, which spanned more than thirty-eight years, George was an exemplary classroom teacher to thousands of students, a successful author of textbooks in geometry and calculus, and a major contributor to virtually all aspects of the department's educational programs. He served as Director of the Math Computer Lab from 1985-2010 and the Math Department Vice Chair from 1994-2010.

Over the course of his career he taught over thirty different courses ranging from the introductory level through graduate courses. In later years, George focused much of his energy on the teaching of the advanced courses required for majors in the Math Education degree program. Through these courses George influenced countless future educators and their students throughout southern Illinois and beyond. His teaching excellence was recognized by the Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Liberal Arts in 1983, the Outstanding Teacher Award in the College of Science in 1989, and the Excellence Through Commitment Outstanding Teacher award in the College of Science in 2009.