Obituaries For reasons of space it is sadly not possible to print all available obituaries in the College Report. In addition to the obituaries printed below, many others of recently deceased Somervillians can be found in the College’s Commemoration booklet available on the website at www.some.ox.ac.uk/alumni/news-publications
Jane Elizabeth Kister (Bridge, 1963) Jane Bridge was known and loved by several generations of Somervillians – first as an undergraduate, then as a graduate and Research Fellow and finally as a Tutorial Fellow. But after 15 years of association with the college she met and married Jim Kister and spent the rest of her life in the United States. Jane Bridge, born 18 October 1944, came up to Somerville as a Scholar in Mathematics from St Paul’s Girls’ School in 1963. She had just been diagnosed with Lupus and she missed much of her first year through illness. She restarted her degree in 1964 and thereafter was never held back by her health, although she lived with the disease for the rest of her life. In spite of this uncertain start, Jane made many good friends in college and was socially always part of her matriculation year. Jane was a warm and empathetic listener, always interested in her friends’ lives and problems while making light of her own health concerns. The friendships she made in her first year at Somerville remained strong for the rest of her life. She made sure to get in touch whenever she and Jim came over to England and she managed to attend several gaudies as well as many social occasions with her group of friends, most recently in May 2019. It was clear from the start that Jane was a very talented mathematician and this was recognised by her tutor, Anne Cobbe, who gave her inspiration and support throughout her undergraduate career. Jane had the ability to get straight to the heart of a problem and then to explain it with utter clarity; her written work was always beautifully presented in her italic handwriting. She was particularly interested in mathematical logic and always regretted that the Mathematics and Philosophy course was not available for her generation. After obtaining a First and being awarded a Junior Mathematical Prize, Jane stayed on to work for a doctorate, completing it under the supervision of Robin Gandy in 1972. She quickly became a key member of the very lively mathematical logic group, showing particular talent in managing the notably eccentric Gandy. Dana Scott arrived in 1972 as Oxford’s first Professor in Mathematical Logic and Jane worked closely with Dana to enhance the group’s reputation as a world leader. Jane was a wonderful mentor and big sister to all the students and research fellows. Jane held the Mary Somerville Research Fellowship at Somerville from 1969 and, after Anne Cobbe’s retirement and subsequent death in 1971, she became the Fellow and Tutor in
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Pure Mathematics. By this time she had already proved herself a very successful and popular tutor and she slipped easily into her new role in college as well as taking on new duties as a lecturer. After she had completed her DPhil, Dana Scott persuaded her to write the book Beginning Model Theory (OUP, 1977) as the first volume in the prestigious Oxford Logic Guides. This is a very lucidly written text, accessible to both undergraduates and beginning postgraduates with a background in either mathematics or philosophy. In 1977, Jim Kister, a topologist from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, came to spend a sabbatical year in Oxford. Jane and Jim were married in July 1978 and settled in the United States. Jane soon became an editor at Mathematical Reviews where she remained for the rest of her career, rising to be Executive Editor in 1998 and retiring in 2004. Mathematical Reviews has traditionally provided short reviews of selected research papers and was a vital tool for academic mathematicians in the pre-electronic age. Jane’s mathematical ability and supreme administrative skills were perfectly suited to this work and she was heavily involved in the launch of the electronic version MathSciNet in 1996. Jim died in 2018 after a long illness and Jane suffered a heart attack a year later, dying on 1 December 2019. HILARY OCKENDON
