Professor Edward Andalafte (1936-2000) was one of the first Mathematicians hired in the nascent UMSL campus, starting to teach in September 1964. He taught Mathematics until his death at age 64 in the summer of 2000. He made extensive contributions to Mathematics by his research and service at the local and international level. His primary area of research was metric geometry. This is a field that studies an abstract metric space and tries to determine what conditions can be placed on it to make it embeddable into Euclidean space or hyperbolic space. He authored more than 30 papers in this area.
Professor Andelafte served as a pillar of the department, establishing high standards not only with his teaching and research, but also his service in the department, university, and to the profession. He developed unique and lasting bonds with his students and colleagues. He served as Chair of the department in 1965 for the first time. He was the first person in the department to hold a Ph.D. degree. He developed a number of courses for the department starting with Math 15 which he taught for the first time in Fall 1965.
Professor Andelafte was a lifelong Missourian, spending his childhood in Springfield, MO. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Missouri - Columbia. He was very involved with his church as a choir member at First Presbyterian Church in Ferguson as well as in the Bel Canto Chorus of St. Louis.
Professor Andelafte also belonged to many organizations in Mathematics, including the American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, Sigma Xi, and the American Association of University Professors.
Gift
Professor Andelafte maintained a modest lifestyle and was a big saver, hoping to retire one day. Unfortunately, with his sudden passing, he never enjoyed that money and instead he left a big sum to the department, stipulating that the money be used for the good of the department, its faculty, students and programs. A part of the money was endowed into a scholarship fund that supports students in the department, a larger part was endowed to support various activities in the department. Over the years, and for years to come, many students and faculty did and will benefit from his lasting legacy.
