Harold Hastings passed away in Boston on May 2, 2022, after a three-year fight with cancer. After Yale, he got a doctorate in mathematics from Princeton. He had a long and productive professional career, making contributions to diverse areas including topology, neural networks, and fractal geometry. He spent the first part of his career at Hofstra, where he chaired both the math and physics departments, then moved to Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where he continued to teach and spend time with students until his last week of life. He passed his love of science on to his children, both of whom also earned doctorates.
“Harold was a very sweet man and a superb mathematician,” says Joe Cohen, and Barry Bardo concurs, adding, “I sat next to Harold in Sophomore year, when we received the results of our first hour test in Chem 12. I’d had the subject in high school and did well, but Chem 12 was a really tough one for me. Harold sat calmly as the graduate student section man returned the test and said to Harold, ‘Mr. Hastings, the only reason you got a 99 was because I don’t give 100’s. Brilliant job!’ I noticed that Harold had written his test with a fountain pen. Unlike my much-erased blue book, his was not only perfect, it was very neatly written. And Joe’s right: He was a very sweet man.”