Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Des de Girona

Moltes gràcies Ferran. Moltes gràcies per què sense tu el grup de geometria computacional de Girona segurament no existiria. Per nosaltres sempre vas ser la persona a la que demanàvem consell quan dubtàvem doncs la teva opinió sempre aportava seguretat en les nostres decisions. De tu vam aprendre que en recerca si perseveres les males notícies es poden convertir en bones notícies. I  així, a poc a poc, seguint els teus consells, la teva família científica de Girona va anar augmentant i seguirà augmentant.

Moltes gràcies per sempre.

Toni, Marta, Narcís, Marité, Iago, Nacho.

Monday, October 13, 2014

From Eduardo Rivera-Campo

A Ferran 

Gran amigo y anfitrión, como a muchos, nos recibiste en la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya y, junto con Teresa, Blanca y Eduard, en tu casa a toda la familia. Gracias a ti conocimos la belleza de tu ciudad y país y la grandeza de su comida, en más de una ocasión preparada por ti mismo y acompañada por un estupendo vino que siempre supiste escoger.

Et trobaré a faltar molt.
Dear Ferran, we will remember these hours in front of the blackboard in Barcelona, we will remember your powers of perception and your enthusiasm about mathematics. 

We will remember our discussions about wines, about "polar français", which you knew better than us, about saying "quatre heures moins le quart" in many languages... 


We will remember that when Monique was preparing her latest visit to your group, you wrote "J'ai déjà placé dans la cave un verdejo Rueda spécial.", you could still remember that she had liked that wine, which you had made her discover many years before. 


We will remember so many good moments with you.


Paraphrasing famous lyrics:
"Ferran, cent ans après, coquin de sort, tu manqueras encore."

Monique & Olivier
Dear Ferran,

I'm just drinking a glass of good red wine  you remember the '2πr' you discovered once and brought me some bottles? Tastes excellent  as you said: 'a real round wine'! I was saving the last bottle for a special occasion, hoping that we could jointly enjoy it. Well, I could write you how sad I am, how sad we are all. But I prefer to let you know how happy I'm that I had the privilege to meet you, to know you for over 20 years, to have you as a colleague, a teacher, a friend, and to learn so many things from you.

I was always excited when, either in Barcelona or wherever we met for a workshop or conference, you asked me if I would like to join for dinner. I knew that it will be an excellent place and a pleasurable evening  I still have a list with recommendations from you where to go. And for the accompanying wine is was always a simple and sure thing: just follow Ferrans advice. And I was deeply impressed when you could identify all the local wines in a blind tasting even here at a Buschenschank, and tell me facts about them which I have not heard before.

Working with you was always fun. Not that the problems you posed were so easy to solve.  But you always gave them an adequate label like 'poisoned' so that everybody was warned. I'm happy that sometimes we ignored that labels and still attacked them. And if we were very lucky we could in fact solve several of them. Just to then immediately ask if the result could be strengthened or generalized. That was fun.

When organizing our joint projects I always knew that I can rely on you. In subtle matters I always appreciated your advise. For example, when local science foundations mutually blocked each other like the dinning philosophers, we gave them calls in parallel  and it worked. Or do you remember that in one of the early joint proposals the placeholder sentence 'the Catalan team will teach the Austrian students how to drink Spanish wine' survived till the final version, and only your last reading prevented us from submitting this to the science foundations? That was really close. But fun!

Ferran, wherever you are now, I'm sure you already found some excellent red wine to taste, so I raise my glass  ¡Salud y muchas gracias por todo Ferran!

Oswin

Saturday, October 11, 2014

From David Rappaport

We first met more than twenty years ago when Ferran came to Kingston for a day to discuss problems that I had worked on. Godfried Toussaint had arranged this meeting and it was with a bit of trepidation that I agreed to make time to meet a total stranger. Needless to say the time we spent together was sublime. Nobody could make discussing mathematics more pleasurable than Ferran. But there was far more to Ferran than mathematics. At dinner that night Ferran charmed my wife Tracy, a visual artist, with his depth of knowledge of art.

Many years later when I finally made it to Barcelona for a Sabbatical stay Ferran was the ideal host. He organized a fabulous apartment,  a fantastic school for our daughter, Bree, and took care of every mundane detail meticulously, including coffee in the cupboard and milk in the fridge for our first morning in Barcelona.

Once I drove with Ferran to Zaragoza from Barcelona. I remember listening to music on that trip. Ferran must have carefully selected the cds that we would listen to. Of course we listened to Flamenco. But in addition to that Ferran turned me on to what has become one of my favourite jazz guitar players. Ferran had a knack of doing exactly what was right. 

He was an exceptional human being, always human, always genuine, always real. We miss him very much.

From Philadelphia

Many here have written eloquently about Ferran as geometer, mathematician, problem poser, and problem solver extraordinaire. He was all that and so much more professionally, but it is as a warm and gracious human being that Ferran will remain forever in our hearts. Ferran had so many talents and interests, which enriched the lives of all who knew him because of his giving nature. We had the good fortune to experience Ferran's generosity as a host during our months in Barcelona on sabbatical. He helped in so many ways, from arranging for our apartment, to driving us to an instrument rental place to rent a keyboard for our daughter, to taking us to a thrilling 10pm Barca game at their home stadium, to informing us about exquisite flamenco guitar concerts, to introducing us to the owner of his favorite wine store, to selecting excellent wine to complement our 'Thanksgiving in Barcelona' dinner in November to help celebrate our kids' favorite American holiday!  Moltes gràcies per tot, Ferran. We are heartbroken that you are no longer with us. Our visits to Barcelona will not be the same again without you.

Thanksgiving in Barcelona with Ferran

- Suneeta Ramaswami and Sunil Shende

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Adieu Ferran

Ferran Hurtado is the older brother I never had. He is the brother who helps you when you are in trouble, calms you down when you are angry, helps you find your way when you are lost, consoles you when you are upset, gives you advice, teaches you, encourages you, supports you, loves you. The brother you look up to because he is so talented, he does everything so well, he is cultured, he is refined, he is knowledgeable, he is creative. He is patient with you and listens to you. My brother is gone. Taken away too quickly. His departure has left a big hole in my heart. I am a little lost in this world without him. I love you Ferran and I will miss you.


This is the final picture I have taken of Ferran. We are about to enjoy a special bottle of wine together.





Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Ferran Hurtado. A gentleman and a scholar.

I will remember your gracious hospitality every time I visited your department. You welcomed me as a friend the first time I dropped by 12 years ago. I will remember your sincere kindness throughout the years. It has been a pleasure and an honor for me to solve problems with you, and also to simply chat about life over a fine meal. It is hard to believe we will no longer share notes on where to have dinner around the world, or meet to watch your beloved FC Barcelona during conferences, workshops and visits.

You will be missed.

-greg

From Pedro Ramos

I had the privilege of being his student (when he was a postdoc  isn't that already incredible?) then his colleague, and friend. I know at some point the joy of the relation with an exceptional person  both on the personal and on the professional side, a combination not that frequent  will prevail. But it is going to take time, a lot of time.

Here is the logo that he made for us at EGC2011. Yes, another proof of his helpfulness and good taste for everything.

Monday, October 6, 2014

From Brussels

Ferran was a great colleague and friend, and the announcement of his passing away leaves us shocked and deeply saddened.

He visited us many times in Brussels during the past ten years. These were memorable times, filled with exciting open questions, epic working sessions, Belgian street food delicacies, and witty humor. He was an amazing problem poser, with a characteristic taste for simplicity and elegance. Ferran was also a gourmet foodie. It was well known that he was the one to follow for the best food and drinks after a day of talks and research discussions. His kindness and respect were infinite.

Ferran aimait mener une conversation dans un français impeccable dès que l'occasion se présentait.

Il restera à jamais parmi nous, dans nos coeurs, et à travers ses contributions durables à la géométrie algorithmique.

Memorial card

The memorial card distributed at the funeral ceremony reproduces a painting by Ferran.




From Manuel Abellanas


Artista, Matemático, Maestro, Amigo.
Moltes gràcies per tot!
Manuel Abellanas.-

Message from Anna Rio

Trobarem a faltar el teu somriure

L’any 1982 el Ferran va ser el meu professor de Geometria Projectiva a la Universitat de Barcelona. Amb una cigarreta entre el dit menovell i l’anular (sí, llavors es fumava a les aules...) i el guix entre l’índex i el polze, les seves demostracions sintètiques impecablement dibuixades a la pissarra ens deixaven impressionats. Jo encara guardo i utilitzo les meves llibretes amb els apunts d’aquell curs. Com també guardo en la memòria el dia que em va fer sortir a la pissarra: “la senyoreta de la tercera fila que porta un jersei blau marí amb ratlles blanques i una xapa lil.la al costat esquerre...” L´últim dia del curs vam provar de sorprendre’l amb una petita celebració, però ell va arribar a l’aula amb una copa de plàstic a la butxaca, preparat per al nostre cava. Després va venir un examen final de dos dies que estic segura que tots els meus companys de curs recorden: era tan impossible de fer...

El vaig retrobar quan l’any 1990 em vaig incorporar al Departament de Matemàtica Aplicada II de la UPC i des de llavors hem estat companys. L’he vist crear el grup de Geometria Computacional i, com tothom, m’he beneficiat d’estar a prop seu. La Carmen Cortés va venir a treballar amb ell, però amb ella i la Belén jo vaig passar molt bones estones. Li dec bon menjar, bons vins, bons concerts de guitarra (Paco de Lucía a l’Auditori, inoblidable) i totes les ocasions que ell sempre aprofitava per celebrar. Quan vaig anar a passar una temporada a Montreal, em va recomanar una pastisseria. Hi vaig anar i naturalment era excel·lent. Els consells del Ferran sempre valien la pena.

Amable, detallista, generós, col.laboratiu, sempre exquisit en les formes, sempre amb la solució sintètica correcta... s’emporta la meva admiració, el meu respecte i la meva estimació.

Ja no me’l tornaré a creuar pels passadissos del Departament i trobaré molt a faltar el seu somriure.

Anna Rio

Ferran's last conference logo was a smiling polygon

Farewell ceremony


We gave our farewell to Ferran yesterday morning in a simple ceremony. The coffin entered the room accompanied by a notebook and a set of color pens. A crowd of relatives, friends and colleagues filled the room.


We listened to two guitar pieces that Ferran loved, and we read a selection of extracts of the many texts written by the members of our scientific community in their blogs, tweets and this memorial blog. By doing this we intended to show the presence of all of you, who were physically far away, but close in your minds. The reading was done in Spanish, English and Catalan. I particularly wish to thank Manuel and Jit for accompanying me in this reading.

Finally, on behalf of the whole family, Edu and Blanca (Ferran’s “kids”), read a touching text for its honesty, courage, and the enormous amount of love and understanding it shows.

I translate it for you:

On behalf of the family, we thank you for your presence.

We had never imagined that we would write these words. Not like this. Because Ferran was a person full of vitality and interests. From mathematics, far more than a job, a passion; to guitar and music, with concerts and hours at home; from reading science fiction and detective stories, to the classic French or the impossible Americans that only he knew about; from painting and his paintings, and the paintings of his parents; to football, or Barca, which is the same; wines, traveling, playing cards, cooking,... And so many other things that he did so well.

And also because Ferran was an incredibly generous person who always tried to solve everything, taking care of everything and everyone; family, friends and colleagues (the ones here and those far away), always thinking of others rather than of himself. He always did this in an absolutely honest and discreet way. Imagine how discreet he was, that he was angry with himself for being red-haired (this dislike was possibly accentuated when, as a child, he was the only kid of the neighborhood gang who was caught after breaking a glass window, due to his red hair!).

But Ferran was very sick. His disease took advantage of all his virtues to carry them to the extreme, and take him away. He was much sicker than any of us was able to see because, the way he was, he did not want us to suffer.

A few weeks ago we laughed with Tere when, talking on the phone of philosophy and other absurd things, we remembered that, when collecting literary prizes, Thomas Bernhard used to say that "everything is ridiculous compared to death." This outburst made us laugh – at home we always had a sense of humor, maybe a particular one. Today, in the proper context, it shows as an indisputable truth.

Experts tell us that it is very important that we say goodbye. We refuse to do so, because Ferran will always be with us. Although he told us that nothing is certain except Pythagoras' Theorem, we know for sure that Ferran will always be with us.

Thank you all.
Some of you have asked me “why don’t you write something?”. But you all know the answer: “Because I can’t. How many times and in how many different circumstances he helped me personally or mathematically? How could I write how much I owe him and how much I will miss him?" But finally, I understand that I owe him a written contribution. So let me just mention two things, although I feel they are only a very small part of all I think and feel.

Ferran gave me all of the most important pushes and advices in my personal/professional life (who can completely distinguish them?). First, by sending me to Stony Brook in 1995 after plotting every detail with Steve behind my back. Some time later, knowing that I tend to get involved in too many different activities, by simply saying “do you intend to finish your PhD thesis before or after your retirement?” Many years later, when I accepted a service position in our university, he sent me the shortest but wiser of all the messages that I received. It was composed by just three words: “suerte, valor y miedo” (luck, courage, and fear). After I came back from my service years, he helped me in absolutely everything, and since then he has been protecting me from all my crazy temptations of getting involved in too many things, the last one being very recent.

Ferran knew every geometric issue I don’t know. And this means a huge amount of stuff. I always particularly loved his knowledge of classical geometry and his ability for synthetic and simple proofs. Many of you must have participated in a workshop scene which has been repeated many times, when the problem under study went to a point where my reaction was “let’s stop trying solving this, I am sure Ferran recognizes the object we are dealing with”. He was called, looked briefly at the problem, and said: “of course, this geometric locus is an ellipse!” or “sure, this lines form an hyperboloid!”.

How are we supposed to be able to keep going without him? 

Remembering Ferran's many gifts to the community

Many of us have been writing about how many ways Ferran gave of himself to our community, contributing so many clever problems, solutions, and ideas.  And he contributed to bringing us together in so many venues, in hosting us in Barcelona, and bringing his cheerfulness, kindness, and optimism to all of the many workshops and events he organized or in which he participated.

The community gathered at EGC 2011 to try to thank Ferran for all he had done for us, and to celebrate his influence on our lives, in hopes that we could give back to him, in recognition for all he had given us.  And what does Ferran do, in classic Ferran style?  He brings gifts for all the participants!  He had carefully selected, and custom labeled (artistically crafted labels!) bottles of fine wine to THANK US!  Ferran was unable NOT to give of himself.  He will continue to give to me the inspirations and joys that we have shared.  Thank you Ferran.


Inscriptions:
EGC 2011
"Thank you for your participation!  Ferran"
Alcala de Henares, June 2011
Offered by Ferran at XIV - EGC
A geometric wine with smooth curves
and a moment of roundness: Find them!
IN VINO VERITAS
Therefore, would you please
convert this wine into theorems!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

A Letter to Ferran from Godfried Toussaint

Ferran, you have left us so unexpectedly and so soon at the height of your career. I remember when you came to spend some time with me at McGill University more than twenty-two years ago, filled with passion for learning computational geometry. Then you invited me to Barcelona where later I spent part of my sabbatical working with you on some new problems you had posed concerning visibility and aperture-angle optimization problems. You carried me all over the city on your little motor scooter, introduced me to horchata, tapas, and Gran Feudo. Through you I discovered Barcelona. You were always the perfect host, an eternal optimist, a marvelous conversationalist, and a gracious friend. I was fortunate that you were able to attend so many of my computational geometry workshops at the Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University in Barbados. I will always remember the beauty and elegance of the many problems you posed there. Your energy and dedication were great contributors to the success of those workshops. We will dearly miss your presence and those beautiful open problems.

Godfried

Letter from Jorge Urrutia

Mi muy querido y estimado viejo amigo Ferran:

Comenzare y terminaré mi carta como comienza y termina una canción de Alberto Cotez, “Carta a mi Viejo”.

A mi Viejo amigo Ferran:

En cualquier día, en cualquier lugar, mi querido y Viejo amigo Ferran:
Perdón por lo de viejo, pero es que así te siento mas cerca. Dondequiera que estés, nada me agradaría mas que pudieras leer esta carta, dirigida más que a un amigo y a un colega, a un hermano del alma. Recuerdo claramente el día que llegaste a mi vida, con una buena botella de vino, y un problema muy bonito de matemáticas, el cual resolvimos esa misma noche. Ese fue el principio de una amistad que no quedará truncada hoy, sino que continuará, hasta al menos, el último día de mi vida. En esos días vivía en Ottawa, y ambos éramos todavía, dos jóvenes, entusiastas de la belleza y de las matemáticas. Recuerdo la sensación que sentí de haberte conocido ya por mucho tiempo, y que eras un amigo que regresaba después de una ausencia.

A partir de entonces, pasamos incontables horas disfrutando del vino, de las matemáticas y compartiendo nuestra vida aquí y allá, año tras año, experiencia tras experiencia, viviendo y sin darnos cuenta, envejeciendo poco a poco. Recuerdo como si fuera hoy a tu entonces pequeña hija “Blanquita” quien en más de una ocasión me acompañó, tomada de la mano, a hacer unas compras para completar la comida de algunas de las inolvidables cenas que tuvimos en tu casa, en Barcelona.

Me es difícil aceptar que te nos adelantaste tan prematuramente, y que el último mensaje que me enviaste hace solo unos días, fue el último que recibiría de ti. Gracias por enviarme ese mensaje, que más que nada, era una carta de un amigo a otro, compartiendo los problemas que te aquejaban. Nunca imaginé el desenlace de tu crisis.

Hoy abrí la última botella de vino que con tanto cariño me regalaste, y me la bebí con mi esposa hasta la ultima gota, en tu memoria. El vino lo bebí, y la botella la conservaré como un recuerdo de nuestra amistad y cariño. A tu familia, Tere, Eduard y Blanquita mi más sentido pésame. Los quiero mucho y los llevo en mi corazón… Y bien, la carta ya se termina, pues la noche ha dejado de ser doncella y la llevará volando la golondrina, hasta allí donde vives, con las estrellas.

Tu amigo del alma.

Jorge

from David and Mandy Wood

Ferran Hurtado: husband, father, friend, mentor, mathematician, educator, linguist, artist, chef, guitarist, wine connoisseur, dominos expert, pool expert, Barca fan, lover of life. Let me recall two anecdotes that say a little about Ferran.

Ferran could tell you the food or wine speciality seemingly of every town and village in Spain. On a  700km voyage across northern Spain, when I would have speed towards our destination, Ferran instead chose a town renowned for its fresh vegetables at that moment in the year, had time to find the best restaurant in town, and then knew exactly what to order without looking at the menu. We still reached our destination on time. I know no other person who is so in touch with his world.

My last email from Ferran followed the birth of my daughter Lucy in May. He wrote,
"It was only a couple of days after the birth that our family gathered and we had a joyful toast to Lucy (and family). It was a Colonial Estate Envoy, mixing Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. Very nice Australian wine ... and a very happy moment!"
Of course, Ferran had the perfect wine for the occasion. More importantly, Ferran involved himself in the lives of others, never intrusive, always loving.

Ferran, I will miss you deeply.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Letter from Graz, Austria

We are all deeply sad that Ferran is not with us any more. As Jorge said, let us remember the true friend we were lucky to meet, and with whom we enjoyed so many precious moments in life. We would like to share with you a picture from our last joint workshop, one of the many occasions we had the pleasure to appreciate his presence.


Oswin Aichholzer and Birgit Vogtenhuber

Letter from Paco Santos

Message received from Francisco (Paco) Santos, in English and Spanish:

Ferran was an exceptional mathematician because his work was exceptional, but also because his career was an exception in several respects. He started research at an age when common wisdom asserts that a mathematician has already given his or her best, yet by productivity and number of coworkers he became some sort of Spanish Erdős, and I am proud to have a Hurtado number of 1. But he was also an exceptional person. Tireless worker, tireless organizer, tireless conversationalist.

And always smiling, Ferran the eternal optimist. I think of him and cannot visualize his face without his smile, with that rogue touch he had in it.

We all owe him a lot. We will all miss him a lot.

Paco



No sé qué decir. Me lo contó David cuando yo estaba a punto de salir para un encuentro de la Red Española de Topología en Tordesillas, de donde acabo de regresar, y no he tenido tiempo de pararme a escribir, salvo un breve mensaje que mandé ayer a Marc Noy y a Antonio Montes en respuesta a otro de Tomás.

En realidad no he tenido tiempo de asimilarlo. Ferran, el eterno optimista. Pienso en él y no consigo visualizar su cara sin su sonrisa, con ese puntito pícaro que tenía.

En todo caso, como dije ayer en la asamblea de la RET, Ferran era un matemático excepcional porque su trabajo era excepcional, pero también porque su carrera era una excepción en muchos sentidos. Comenzó a investigar a una edad en la que el common wisdom asevera que un matemático ya ha dado lo mejor de sí. En términos de producción y número de coautores era una especie de Erdos español, y me enorgullezco de que mi número de Hurtado sea 1. Y era también una persona excepcional. Trabajador incansable, organizador incansable, conversador incansable. Todos le debemos mucho, y le echaremos mucho de menos.

Un abrazo muy fuerte y mucho ánimo,

Paco

Et trobaré a faltar, Ferran — Clara Grima


Es jodido que desaparezcan personajes de tu historia. Siempre lo es. Pero la pérdida de hoy deja un agujero muy grande en mi corazón.

Ha muerto el profesor Ferran Hurtado, mi amigo Ferran. Escribo estas líneas para creérmelo, para verlo escrito, porque no me entra en la cabeza. Es absurdo. Es jodidamente absurdo. Es una puta mierda.

No puedo aceptar que no lo volveré a ver, a escuchar, a trabajar con él, a que me hable de vinos, de cómo prepara el paté casero.

Pero así es esto y hay que seguir.

Gracias, Ferran, por todo, por todo lo que me enseñaste, por todo lo que compartimos, por recordar siempre nuestra última conversación cada vez que nos volvíamos a encontrar, por tus triangulaciones y tus flips. Gracias por hablarme de Silvia Pérez Cruz. Gracias por reírte y aguantar que te respondiese con "Zeñó, sí, zeñó" cuando me pedías que hiciera algo. Gracias porque necesitaba que te gustase mi Mati y te gustó.

Gracias por haber estado en mi vida. Ojalá pudiese creer que volveremos a brindar en alguna otra parte, pero no. Esto es así. Se acaba y te deja con esta cara de estúpida, enfadada, con tantas cosas por decir.

Descansa en paz, por favor.

That is my portrait of Ferran, one of the kindest people I have known. Ferran and I were both visiting Stefan Langerman, renting Brussels apartments one above the other with our wives. We'd work all day, eat at a different but always superb restaurant (one always ate well in Ferran's presence), and then perhaps attend an evening concert. Work on one paper ("Highway Hull Revisited") was nearly complete, but we had only a convoluted proof of Lemma 7. I wanted to close out the paper; Ferran frowned morning after morning with displeasure at our proof. Then one morning he arrived with a beautifully intricate elementary Euclidean geometry proof, ensconced in the above figure.

He strove for simplicity and beauty in all his work, and regularly matched his own high standards. This is not only true in his geometry work, but also in his painting, his music, and even his dominoes play. I like to believe that he is now enjoying browsing proofs from The Book, and pleased to learn that so many bear his name. 

May he rest in peace.

compgeom-announce posting

[message of Oct 3 to compgeom-announce letting the community know of our loss]

It is with a heavy heart that the international computational geometry
community bids farewell to our dear friend and colleague, Ferran
Hurtado, who suddenly passed away yesterday (Oct 2).

Ferran gave of himself as a teacher, a mentor, a scholar, a colleague,
a leader, a husband, a father, and as a kind and ever generous friend,
to all who had the distinct pleasure of knowing him.

The CG community celebrated Ferran's contributions at the EGC
Ferran-fest in June, 2011.  In the photos of the joyous occasion we
are reminded of Ferran's influence on us all, and his infectious
kindness.

Pictures taken during the meeting:
  https://picasaweb.google.com/103245505595528325592/XIVSpanishMeetingOnComputationalGeometry?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNP08PSksI-ARg&feat=directlink
Presentation, mainly with pictures of the album offered as present to Ferran:
  https://picasaweb.google.com/103245505595528325592/AlbumFerranPresentation?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKXNqp2e1oHxLA&feat=directlink
Some videos of the social dinner:
  https://picasaweb.google.com/103245505595528325592/VideosDinner?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCI7jn5_ao8Hw7AE&feat=directlink

Ferran was recently included in the "Tree of Mathematics", an
initiative of the Spanish Mathematical Society to "publish the
profiles of scientific Latin American personalities, including Spain
and Portugal, known for their research in mathematics or relevance in
the use of mathematics (in science, technology, economics, ...), by
their high creativity and influence, and their ability to inspire
younger generations."  See http://www.arbolmat.com/ferran-hurtado/

The Spanish Mathematical Society has sent out an announcement of
Ferran's death and has placed it in its home page (in Spanish):
http://www.rsme.es/
http://www.rsme.es/content/view/1607/1/

The Catalan Mathematical Society has also sent out its own
announcement in Catalan:
Benvolguts socis,
Us hem de comunicar la trista notícia de la mort del professor Ferran
Hurtado, catedràtic de matemàtiques de la UPC, expert internacional
molt destacat en Geometria Computacional, soci de la SCM i company
molt admirat i estimat a tota la nostra comunitat matemàtica, tant a
la universitat com a l'ensenyament secundari, on va començar la seva
carrera professional.
Que descansi en pau.

Societat Catalana de Matemàtiques
C. Carme 47, 08001 Barcelona
scm@iec.cat

The colleagues at UPC have also published a note in "La Vanguardia"
which is the most important newspaper in town. This is the on-line
version (in Catalan):
http://enmemoria.lavanguardia.com/39240727-fallecimiento-ferran-hurtado-diaz


The funeral will be on Sunday morning (Oct 5, 11:30 local time)

We welcome members of the community to share their thoughts and
remembrances at a blog set up for this purpose:

http://ferranhurtado.blogspot.com/

We cherish our memories and will always hold you in our thoughts.
¡Muchas gracias Ferran!

Friday, October 3, 2014

Through the shock and tears I try to focus on the many wonderful memories. We first met Ferran over 20 years ago, and through him many other wonderful friends and colleagues from Spain. We always loved our visits as Ferran is the most wonderful warm host to our family.

So as I sit here today, wearing my tourist souvenir Barcelona T shirt, which I got on one of our many trips to visit you Ferran, I think of you, and think of Hershey chocolate syrup. Early in our friendship we discovered a mutual love of ice cream with chocolate syrup. Since then we have shared many such bowls both at our home in Port Jefferson and at Ferran's home in Barcelona. It had become a tradition, and every time we went to visit, we would bring with us 1 or 2 extra large bottles of Hershey chocolate syrup. So this is how I choose to remember you Ferran, sitting at the kitchen table, over ice cream with syrup.
We are all stunned and saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Ferran. Yes, he was like a father and a brother to us, leading us through life experiences and research explorations with fun, with humor, and with kindness.

Ferran welcomed Estie and me and our family to Spain, took us into his home and his family. Teresa, Eduard, Blanca -- we feel your deep loss. 

Ferran had an amazing taste for problems, and his enthusiasm was infectious. He always had a healthy balance of work, of play, of eating and drinking, and music and art, with his great creativity and his many talents and always with the kindest and friendliest disposition. We sorely miss you Ferran.

See you later, Ferran — Belén Palop

Posting an edited English version of "Hasta luego, Ferran" from Belén Palop's blog:

The day I defended my PhD, my mother approached Ferran and said: "Thanks for everything, Ferran. Thanks for being like a father to her."

I just heard that my scientific father, my advisor, has died. I write this still in shock, when my thoughts go through so many moments of advice, meetings, laughter and travels around the world; of encounters and differences; of learning and imitation. I have repeated so many times "Let me quote Ferran…", "we have to ask Ferran", or "what would Ferran say?". Many times after finishing my thesis I looked at a paper before submitting it with "Ferran's eyes", looking at what he would have to say on it.

Ferran had many scientific children. We all admired him and will miss the emergency calls to which, unfailingly, he answered with a calm "digueu-me?" that made ​​you think, whatever the problem was, it would be solved.

Ferran was that person who, when you entered the restaurant, the waiter identified without hesitation as the one who should be offered the wine-tasting. The father that gathered us in Barcelona from time to time to give us that push we needed.

Many times I have said that you cannot have a "former" PhD advisor. Because your advisor is forever. Forever, Ferran. A kiss wherever you are.

Ferran Hurtado (1951-2014)

I was deeply saddened to learn that my friend and colleague, Ferran Hurtado, died yesterday (October 2, 2014).  He was an incredible person, researcher, mentor, leader, and collaborator — one of the fathers of the computational geometry field, and one of the kindest people I knew.  He was a wonderful painter, musician, foodie, and probably many more talents I didn't even have a chance to know.

This memorial blog is to post remembrances, photos, letters to Ferran or his family, etc. in any language.  Feel free to add comments to this post, or email me to get permission to make your own post.

Here is a photo from the 2008 Winter Workshop on Computational Geometry in Barbados (which Ferran frequently attended and posed some of the best open problems):


We miss you, Ferran.
—Erik