Professor Emeritus Paul Schupp passed away on January 24, 2022, in London, at the age of 84.
During the last year of his life Paul was in relatively weak health and he lived with his son Jerome and Jerome’s wife in the U.K. Paul died of heart failure.
The funeral arrangements have not been made yet but it is expected that the funeral will take place in the U.S.
Paul exerted major influence on the birth and development of the subject of geometric group theory. His 1977 book with Roger Lyndon Combinatorial Group Theory remains a classic in the subject and it foresaw many ideas that later became central to geometric group theory. In particular, small cancellation theory, with its various generalizations and applications, has been experiencing something of a Renaissance in recent years, much to Paul’s satisfaction.
Paul was also an early champion of exploring the interactions between group theory and computation, both in terms of using computer experiments to inform theoretical research and in investigating the connections between group theory and computability theory/computational complexity. Paul thought about himself both as a group theorist and a computer scientist, and both fields benefited tremendously from his contributions.
The impact of Paul Schupp’s work and ideas on the development of geometric group theory continues to be deeply felt, and his loss will be deeply felt as well.