Department of Mathematics
In Memorium:
Michio Suzuki

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Michio Suzuki, 72, a mathematician who was one of the leaders in the developments in finite group theory that led to the classification of the finite simple groups, died June 1, 1998, in Tokyo. Suzuki, a professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, had been ill for about four months with cancer. The classification of the finite simple groups was one of the outstanding accomplishments in algebra in the last 50 years. Suzuki made one of the most important contributions in 1954 by applying character theory to obtain the first progress on the conjecture that all nontrivial finite simple groups have an even number of elements. This was a problem that had seemed to be unapproachable.

In 1962, building in part on Suzuki's method, other mathematicians showed the conjecture to be true. Later all finite simple groups were found, and Suzuki made several important contributions to this accomplishment by finding and characterizing the Suzuki groups. Suzuki was born in Chiba City, Japan, Oct. 2, 1926. He earned a doctorate at the University of Tokyo in 1952. He accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Illinois in 1952 and was appointed professor in 1955. In 1968 he was named a professor in the Center for Advanced Study at Illinois.

In 1956 and 1957, Suzuki was a research associate at Harvard University. In 1960-1961, Suzuki was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. In 1962-1963, he was a Guggenheim Fellow. Suzuki was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1968-69 and a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in the spring of 1971. In 1980 he was a visiting professor at the University of Hokkaido, University of Osaka and University of Tokyo. In the summer of 1994, he was a visiting professor at University of Padua, Italy.

In 1974 Suzuki was awarded the Academy Prize from the Japan Academy for his work in group theory. The prize is the highest honor awarded to mathematicians in Japan. He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Kiel, Germany, in 1991. Suzuki is survived by his wife, Naoko Akizuki of Champaign; a daughter, Kazuko Suzuki Boyce of Laurel, Md.; and his brothers, Tatsuzo Suzuki and Sadao Suzuki, both of whom live in Japan.