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Prof. William Thurston passed away on Aug. 21, 2012. His MO profile page gives Feb. 22, 2012 as the date of his last log-in. Who is the person who wrote the year of his death in his profile page? Was it one of the moderators? Was this done on request of the family (or of Cornell University), or was it a personal initiative?

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Please see this discussion, from the old forum 'tea' before it was superceded by MO meta: http://mathoverflow.tqft.net/discussion/1429/loss-of-a-member/ The discussion indicates that it was Anton Geraschenko who added the text. Related MO post: Wikipedia story about Bill Thurston's death.

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  • $\begingroup$ Should I understand that Anton Geraschenko was a moderator at that time? (I do not know where to find a list of the past moderators, if anywhere.) $\endgroup$
    – Alex M.
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 16:06
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, he was a moderator (and founding member of MathOverflow!). meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1042/… $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble Mod
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 16:47
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    $\begingroup$ one of the comments in that discussion says "it would be reasonable to apply this [adding the life time dates] in other cases in which the moderators can verify that it is appropriate." --- I am not sure it has been applied in other cases, but I would indeed consider this appropriate. $\endgroup$
    – Carlo Beenakker
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 21:06
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    $\begingroup$ @AlexM. You can find some information about past moderators in this post: History of MathOverflow. The list of past moderators has not been updated for some time, but I don't think there were any changes since 2013. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 10:05
  • $\begingroup$ Since the link in the post to the discussion on tea doesn't work at the moment, here is a link to the Wayback Machine. (Sadly, some people might have a reason to visit this discussion now after another user passed away - although he was more active on Mathematics than here.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Sep 9, 2022 at 5:19
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Henno Brandsma was well-known as a font of topological knowledge. This is a tragic loss for our community as well. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2022 at 10:52

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