Editorial

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Trevor West [1938-2012] EDITORIAL: AN HOMAGE TO TREVOR WEST Martin Mathieu The first time I met Trevor was as a postgraduate student at the MathematicalInstituteof the University of Tübingen.My supervisor, Professor RainerNagelwas,as usual,busywithseveralinternational visitors, and Trevor was one ofthem.Duringmyundergraduate studies,Rainerhad, unsuccessfully, tried on variousoccasionsto send me abroad fora shortspell; however, I had resisted, mainlyforfamily reasons.But on thatday,fatestruck. We weresitting aroundthe tea tablein Rainer'soffice and Trevor, whowas a good friend ofRainer's,leisurely mentioned that he was lookingfora temporary replacement forRichardTimoney, whowouldbe spendinghissabbaticalin theUS inthenextsemester. WhileI was notfully listening, Rainermusthavementioned mynameto Trevor;because suddenlyhejumped up and ranintothesecretary's office to makea phonecall. When he came back aftera fewminutes,he had spokento the Head of Departmentat Trinity and happilyreported thathehad fixed meup to spendthenextMichaelmas Termat Trinity! Therewas no wayforme to escape from this. As a resultof thiscoup, I travelledwithmythensmall family(mywifeand myoldestdaughter)to Dublin bycar and boat to takeup residence in Trinity Hall in September1984 forthe restof that calendaryear.I was put to teachingthe introductory courseon FunctionalAnalysis,whichwas quite a task,giventhat I wasonlyinmysecondyearofpostgraduate studies.However, I enjoyedtheteaching and the lifein Dublin a lot, and evenmade it downto UCC laterin the yearto visitRobinHarte. (Comingfrom Germany, wewereglad to see thatwe couldstart off on themotorway from Dublin,onlyto realisethatitfinished after twomilesout ofthecity.)DespiteTrevor'swarnings, I evenmanagedto writea jointpaperwith Robinduring thatvisit(publishedintheProceedings oftheAmericanMathematical Societyin 1986),themainresultofwhichwas in factconceivedin a pub. This first visitto Irelandplayeda decisiverolein myprofessional and indeed personallife.With Trevor'shelp on thisand lateroccasions,I got introduced to the Irishmathematicalcommunity and Irishway of life.In fact,Trevoris one of the threeIrish men responsibleforbringing me overto Ireland: he initiated thefirst contactand visit.After that,thelate GerardMurphystartedto organise meetings on operatortheory and operatoralgebrasat UCC, and I becamea regular participant, not the least sinceI had fallenin lovewithIreland.In 1990,Gerard also hostedmytwo-month visitto UCC, and wewrotea jointpaper,thusstarting a newresearch direction ofmine.After Gerardhad mademereturn to Ireland(again *Corresponding author, e-mail: m.m@qub.ac.uk doi:10.3318/PRIA.2013. 113.06 Citeasfollows: Martin Mathieu, Editorial: Anhomage toTrevor West Mathematical Proceedings ofthe Royal Irish Academy 113A(2) (2013), i-ii;doi:10.3318/PRIA.2013.113.06 Mathematical Proceedings ofthe Royal Irish Academy ,113A(2),i-ii(2013)© Royal Irish Academy ii Mathematical Proceedings oftheRoyalIrishAcademy and again), it was TonyO'Farrellwho finally made me stay,by first arranging a one-year temporary positionforme at MaynoothwhenI was out ofa job in 1996, andthensupporting a MarieCurieFellowship application, whichallowedmeto stay in Maynoothforanotheryear.In 1998,I movedup northto takeup a permanent positionat Queen's University Belfast. Overthe years,Trevorwas a greatinspirational sourceforme and mymathematicalinterests and, ofcourse,I studiedthe 'LittleRed Book' in everydetail. Moreover, together withothers, he helpedmeto understand, and to integrate into, Irishsociety, bothsouthand north(he gave me a copyofRoy Garland's book on GustySpence). To someextent,he certainly was a rolemodelforme in myearlier years,and I am glad to say that I feelfullyat homein Irelandby now. (That I am, meanwhile, somewhatacceptedheremayshowin the factthat I was elected Member oftheRoyalIrishAcademyin2010,amtheeditorofitsMathematical Proceedings (thusfollowing in a fewofTrevor'smanyfootsteps), and presently serve as thePresidentoftheIrishMathematicalSociety.) The last timeI saw Trevorwas at a conference heldin Edinburgh in December 2009 to markthe retirement ofAlastairGillespieand Allan Sinclair.He was still in good formand fullof his usual humour.It was hard forme to imaginethat therewouldcomea timewhenhe no longerwouldbe withus. I was shockedand surprised to hearofhispassinginOctober2012.As GandalfsaysintheFellowship oftheRing, 'All we haveto decideis whatto do withthetimethatis givento us.' I am convincedTrevormade verygood choices,and I am glad to haveknownhim. This issueofthe Proceedings mayserveas a thank-you to himfrom all ofus. ...