Harold Widom, 88, Santa Cruz

Widom was enamored of hiking and exploring the outdoors. He frequently trekked the trails of the Henry Cowell, Big Basin and Nisene Marks parks, and said he often came up with his best mathematical ideas while on the trail.

The allure, challenge and wonders of mathematics were so central to the life of Harold Widom that the retired professor had a classroom-style chalkboard installed in the study of his Santa Cruz home. There, even in the last months of his life, he would untangle numbingly complex equations and keep various to-do lists and reminders. “In the corner, he’d have his grocery list — things like Imodium, mandarin oranges,” his daughter Barbara Widom Wilson said. “Then he’d have a note about when he had to rotate the tires on his car, a 1997 Geo Prizm. It said, ‘Rotate again at 220,000 miles.’ ” On Jan. 21, Widom died at home from complications of COVID-19. He was 88. An acclaimed mathematician, Widom — pronounced like “wisdom” minus the S — graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan at 16, attended the City College of New York for two years and was among the winners of the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, and by 23 had earned his doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

He joined the faculty of Cornell University in 1955, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Ben, a chemist. Thirteen years later, Widom accepted an offer on the West Coast at the newly established UC Santa Cruz, where he helped found the mathematics department. He told friends that one of the biggest draws of California was that he could play tennis year-round.

Eventually, he became even more enamored of hiking and exploring the outdoors. He frequently trekked the trails of the Henry Cowell, Big Basin and Nisene Marks parks, and said he often came up with his best mathematical ideas while on the trail. He enjoyed those hikes with his three children and later grandchildren, and he had a penchant for brightly colored floppy hats and sunglasses.

Late in life, he started an environmental fund through the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, in support of open spaces and parks.

Widom and his second wife, Linda Larkin, traveled the world and had a special fondness for New Zealand and Switzerland. He played the violin, enjoyed the symphony and loved a good glass of wine, or his favorite cocktail, a gin gimlet.

His two daughters and son were successful in their own endeavors. Barbara is an endocrinologist in Fort Collins, Colo., Jennifer is dean of engineering at Stanford, and Steven is a software engineer.

Trim and in shape throughout his life, Widom continued to hike until his final months. In August, he passed out due to low blood pressure, fell and sustained a broken hip. He recovered and even resumed driving his beloved stick-shift car.

He fell ill with pneumonia in November and was hospitalized. When he returned home in December, he contracted the coronavirus. Although he was able to return home from the hospital after a week, his weight had dropped from 125 pounds to 105. His health declined rapidly.

Because she’s a doctor, Barbara had been vaccinated and was able to assist with her father’s care in his final weeks.

“It was pretty horrible how low his oxygen was and how short of breath he was,” she said.

“But I was able to be right next to him without a mask and really help, so that was a wonderful thing. It would have been so different if he were alone at the hospital.”

Widom is survived by his wife, three children, brother and four grandchildren.