Charles J. A. Halberg, Jr.

Charles J. A. Halberg, Jr., Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), passed away at home in Carlsbad, Calif., on June 1, 2009. He was 87.

Charles “Doon” Halberg was born in Pasadena, California, on Sept. 24, 1921, and grew up in Los Angeles and Carlsbad. After graduating from the Carlsbad Army & Navy Academy in 1938, Charles Halberg attended UC Berkeley. He served in the armed forces, before going on to receive his Bachelor of Arts Degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Pomona College in 1949. He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA in 1953 and 1955, respectively.

Professor Halberg was among the first group of mathematics faculty to arrive at UCR. He was recruited by the first chair of the Division of Physical Sciences, Conway Pierce, in 1955, a year after the new campus was opened. Starting as an instructor, he rose through the ranks, achieving the rank of full professor in 1968.

Active in campus affairs, Professor Halberg was responsible for many innovations. He was the first vice chancellor for student affairs, from 1964 to 1965, and established “free speech” areas on campus during those tumultuous years. He also created the Casa Hispanica and was an early promoter of what was originally called the Men’s Faculty Club. Serving as president in 1964, he persuaded the membership to admit women — “Men’s” was dropped from the name—and to build a larger facility to replace the original Quonset Hut headquarters. He was chair of the Board of Athletic Control during 1959-60 and was the original faculty advisor for the Big C Society, the lettermen’s club, from 1955 to 1961.

Professor Halberg and his fellow faculty members—mostly men in their 30s—organized a long-running volleyball game that originally pitted students against faculty. As the faculty aged, however, the outcome became lopsided, and the teams were integrated.

In addition to his years on campus, Professor Halberg directed the University of California Scandinavian Study Center, located at Lund University in Sweden, from 1976 to 1978. He also spent four sabbaticals at the University of Gothenburg.

His area of research was functional analysis, which he defined as “the study of abstract spaces and operators on those spaces,” and he wrote many articles on the subject. But his first love was teaching. Conway Pierce wrote that Halberg’s outstanding record as a teacher “is so well known [on the campus] that elaboration is not needed.” Professor Halberg wrote or co-wrote a number of math textbooks at the beginning college level and is credited with shaping the Department of Mathematics’ coursework to serve both nonmajors as well as majors.

Professor Halberg was a member of Kappa Mu Upsilon and Pi Mu Epsilon, national mathematics honoraries; Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Xi; as well as the Mathematics Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, and the Svenska Matematikersamfundet.

He was survived by his wife, Betty Hope Halberg, his daughter, Ariel A. Walters of Fallbrook, CA, and his sons, Charles T. Halberg of Chula Vista, CA, Niels F. Halberg of Lakeside, CA, and Ulf Hjelm of Atlantic Highlands, NJ. He was also survived by his wife's children, Billy Galizio of Oceanside, CA, Paul Zimprich of Colorado and Michael Zimprich of New Mexico, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This memorial was prepared by Alexander Barinov, Assistant Professor of Finance at the UCR School of Business, using information from public sources.