Robert Ash (1935-2015)
Information Theorist Robert Ash passed away on April 15, 2015, after being struck by a car while crossing the street in Urbana, IL.
Apr 19, 2015
More information can be found in the article on the accident. Ash was a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Longtime colleague Michael Pursley remembers Prof. Ash:
During the period that I was at Illinois, Bob Ash spent most of his time teaching (which he did very well), jogging, and writing books. Â Most of us know him as the author of one of the early textbooks on information theory, but that was just the start for Bob. Â He always seemed to master new concepts very quickly. One week he would tell me that he was learning a new subject and by the next week he was writing a book on the subject.Â
Ash was the author of many textbooks (including an early book on Information Theory). He posted many of his books as free downloads