Subject: David M. Young, Jr. (1922-2008)

David Young, 85, one of the giants of modern scientific computing,died on December 21, 2008, in Austin, Texas, with Mildred, his wife of 59 years, at his side.

His classic dissertation in 1950, "Iterative Methods for Solving Partial Difference Equations of Elliptic Type", under Professor Garrett Birkhoff at Harvard University, established the mathematical framework for the Successive Overrelaxation (SOR) method.

Dr. Young served in the U.S. Navy during part of World War II and later became a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

David spend most of his career at The University of Texas at Austin as Professor of Mathematics (1958-1999) and Computer Sciences (1966-1999), Director of the Computation Center (1958-1970), Director of the Center for Numerical Analysis (1970-1999), and member of the Institute of Computational Engineering and Sciences, as well as holding a distinguished professorship there, the Ashbel Smith Professor.

David was appointed to membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and, in 1990, ACM recognized him with an award for

"Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science."

Dr. Young also served on the Board of Trustees for the Argonne Universities Association (1975-1981).

David was an inspiring teacher, a kind and gracious gentleman,and a fine leader who certainly had a major impact on the lives of his students, colleagues, and friends.

We cherish Dr. Young's spirit which lingers on in our memories and sustains us. We will miss his presence in our lives.

Some photos from Professor Young's 80th birthday reception can be seen at

http://www.ma.utexas.edu/cna/files/photos.html

Please email any additional photos of David Young, you wish to share to David Kincaid (kincaid@math.utexas.edu).

David Kincaid, Richard Varga, Paul Saylor