Olga Beaver

Olga Beaver (12 November 1942 – 7 December 2012 ), informally called Ollie, was a Czech-American mathematician and Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. She is noted for having founded the Summer Science Program at Williams. She served as the director of the SSP for many years, and was the chair of the Mathematics Department at Williams for five and a half years. Her earliest memory was of hiding in her apartment basement during a bombing raid.

Education Beaver began her undergraduate education at Smith College; while still enrolled, she married Donald deBlasiis (Don) Beaver. She left the college in 1962 when she became pregnant. She pursued research in measure theory and probability theory.

Beaver died of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer on 7 December 2012 at her home, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2009. However, she continued teaching until 9 November 2012. At the time of her death, she had been a member of the American Mathematical Society for 36 years.

Personal life Beaver enjoyed teaching mathematics, cooking, gardening, reading, and interior design. She traveled to Prague biannually since 1992, and was pleased to have her Czech citizenship reinstated. She had two children and five grandchildren.

Awards and honors Beaver was honored with the 2nd Louise Hay Award in 1992.