Michael J. Best

We are saddened to announce that our colleague and friend Michael Best, Professor of Combinatorics and Optimization at University of Waterloo, passed away on November 10 after a battle with cancer.

Mike earned his B.Math. and M.Math. degrees at the University of Waterloo in 1967 and 1968, followed by an M.Sc. and Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 1970 and 1971. He was the second-ever recipient of a B.Math. degree at Waterloo. Mike joined the C&O faculty after his Ph.D., where he remained until his retirement in 2010.

Mike's research field was optimization. He was well known for his books on linear programming, quadratic programming, and portfolio optimization. He created and often taught the popular undergraduate course CO 372 on portfolio optimization. Mike supervised seven Ph.D. disserations at Waterloo, and thirty M.Math. students.