Joseph L. Walsh, Former Professor, Dies in Maryland

Joseph L. Walsh '16, former Perkins Professor of Mathematics and an instructor at Harvard for over 50 years, died at his Maryland home on December 10. He was 78 years old.

Walsh taught higher mathematics at Harvard until 1969. During that time, he wrote over 300 papers and served terms as president and vice president of the American Mathematical Association.

He left Harvard at the age of 70 to assume a professorship at the University of Maryland, where he continued actively teaching until his death last week.

He is best known for the Walsh orthogonal function, which has become an important part of communications theory and the development of theorems which aided construction of turbincs.

During World War II, Walsh served as a lieutenant commander in the Navy, navigating combat and escort aircraft carriers. A colleague, George W. Mackey, Clay Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science, said yesterday that "Walsh was proud to have been the oldest Harvard professor still in active service during the war."