IN MEMORIAM: Donald W. Bushaw, Retired WSU Honors College Faculty, Council Member
A special article on Dr. Bushaw has been prepared by Mike Kallaher, professor and former chair of the Department of Mathematics.
PULLMAN, Wash.—Donald W. Bushaw, 85, a WSU faculty member and professor of mathematics for half a century, passed away Jan. 15, 2012. He was a strong proponent of the fledgling Honors Program that began in 1960, served on its Honors Council for several years starting in 1964, and taught many Honors courses.
Donald Bushaw was born in Anacortes, graduated from Bremerton High School, and attended Washington State College. Following service in the Navy, he returned to Pullman and earned his B.A. in mathematics in 1949. He married Sylvia Lybecker, whom he had met at WSC. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1952 from Princeton University, authoring a doctoral thesis that is often cited as the starting point for the modern development of optimal control theory.
That same year, the Bushaw’s returned to Washington State where he began a teaching career that spanned 41 years. He also served as chair of the mathematics department, director of libraries, and vice provost for instruction. In 1983 he became the first recipient of the WSU Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction. In 1987, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1993, he retired from WSU but continued to live in Pullman and perform service functions for the university. In 2008, he received the College of Sciences Legacy Award. In 2010, the Bushaw’s moved to Portland.
In addition to his devotion to family and professional activities, he had a passion and lifelong interest in learning languages and in travel. The Bushaw’s spent a year on an exchange between the National Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences at Jagiellonian University in Krakow in 1972-73; in the early 1990s, he spent one month each of three years in Switzerland studying the Romansch language.
He is survived by his wife; sister Shirley Hansen; daughters Amy Bushaw and Margaret Parker, of Portland; sons Bruce (Bonnie) of Richland, Gordon (Bonnie) of Silverdale, and Tom (Ruth) of Kennewick; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Grandson Andy preceded him in death in 1988.
A family memorial gathering will be held in Portland.
MEDIA: Beverly Makhani, Communications Director, Honors College at WSU, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu