Safa Jafari Safa, Office of Communications, ss152@aub.edu.lb
The American University of Beirut mourns the loss of one of its most esteemed faculty members and a dedicated professor of mathematics, Dr. Nazih Nahlus.
Nahlus devoted over 30 years to teaching and research at AUB and was renowned amongst colleagues and students as an inspiring algebraist, eminent scholar, and passionate mentor. With a friendly character and warm manner, he shared his mathematical insight and had a special ability to happily explain and simplify even the most complex mathematical concepts.
“Dr. Nahlus was more than a colleague. He was a friend and a true advisor. Words cannot really express the sorrow that I feel for [his] sudden passing,” said chairperson of the mathematics department, Dr. Wissam Raji.
Nazih Nahlus received his bachelor’s in mathematics from AUB in 1977. In 1979, he received a graduate fellowship from Columbia University and then earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. With research interests in non-commutative algebra, Lie groups and Lie algebras, he joined AUB in 1988 as an assistant professor and was promoted through the ranks to become full professor in 2002. He continued to serve at AUB until his passing in February 2018.
His legacy includes not only his valuable scholarly achievements and contributions, but an immense impact he left at AUB with the knowledge he imparted and the sincere care he demonstrated to all his students in doing so.
“Dr. Nahlus’s students remember him for being kind and fair, and his colleagues regard him as a distinguished scholar, a gentleman, a true friend, and an excellent teacher,” said Dr. Nadia El Cheikh, dean of AUB’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). “There is no doubt that in mourning Dr. Nahlus, the FAS mourns a colleague who was truly devoted to his alma mater. He will always be remembered by anyone whose life he has touched.”