Karel DeLeeuw

Karel deLeeuw, or de Leeuw ((1930-02-20)February 20, 1930 – August 18, 1978(1978-08-18)), was a mathematician at Stanford University, specializing in harmonic analysis and functional analysis. He received his doctorate at Princeton in 1954 under Emil Artin. He was murdered by Theodore Streleski, a Stanford doctoral student for 19 years, whom he briefly advised.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago, earning a B.S. degree in 1950. He stayed at Chicago to earn the M.S. degree in mathematics in 1951, then went to Princeton University, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1954. His thesis, titled The relative cohomology structure of formations, was written under the direction of Emil Artin.

After first teaching mathematics at Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he joined the Stanford University faculty in 1957, becoming a full professor in 1966, and remaining there until his death in 1978. During sabbaticals and leaves he also spent time at the Institute for Advanced Study and at Churchill College, Cambridge (where he was a Fulbright Fellow).