Obituary: Hano, prof. emeritus of mathematics

Jun-ichi Hano, Ph.D., professor emeritus of mathematics, died Thursday, June 30, 2005, from liver cancer. He was 79.

He came to the University in September 1962 as a visiting associate professor of mathematics; he was appointed associate professor in 1963. He became a full professor in 1969, a title he held until 1989, when he retired and moved back to Yokohama, Japan.

He continued researching after his retirement. His last paper was published in 1996.

Hano’s field of research was differential geometry. He specialized on problems involving the actions of Lie groups, named after Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie.

Hano had several Ph.D. students at the University, two of whom became quite renowned mathematicians.

One was 1966 graduate Nolan Wallach, who became a full professor at Rutgers University, then at the University of California, San Diego.

The other was 1971 alumnus Aroldo “Ronnie” Kaplan, from Argentina, who became a professor at the University of Massachusetts.

When Hano retired from the University, he returned to Japan and contiued to teach.

He later returned to University City, where he had kept his house, and lived until very recently.

He eventually sold his house and returned to Japan.

Hano is survived by his brother, Kenji Hano, and two sisters, Aiko Kosaki and Seiko Hano.