I was very sad to read this evening that Max Kelly died on Australia Day.I was lucky enough to have Max as my very first mathematics lecturer at Sydney University in 1979. He was a wonderful expositor and a bit of an eccentric. I have told stories of his lectures to many people.
His particular area of research was Category Theory, which looks at the generic properties of mathematical structures and their interrelationships. It's a subject which I find fascinating, but somewhat impenetrable, although I continue to live in hope that its mysteries will one day become clear.
It was pleasing to read that he was still engaged in mathematics right to the end, working on a number of papers with colleagues, as evidenced by this article over at the n-Category Café. You can tell from those letters that he was much loved.
