David B. Meronk (1934 - 2009)

David B. Meronk, 74, of Bowling Green, Ohio died Thursday evening, July 30, 2009 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg, Ohio. He was born August 10, 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to the late David P. and Julia M. (Skibbie) Meronk. On June 7, 1958 he married Barbara Spana and she survives. David is also survived by two daughters, Salena Meronk, Cleveland, Ohio; Stephanie (Scott) Cavanaugh, Bowling Green; son, David J. (Natalie) Meronk, Findlay, Ohio; brother, John (Anne) Meronk, Plainfield, Wisconsin and was a giving and loving grandfather to his 12 grandchildren.

David served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. After he received his bachelor's degree from Marquette University in 1959, he received an MS from Notre Dame in 1961, and then a PhD in Mathematics from Notre Dame in 1969 under the direction of the noted algebraist Hans Zassenhaus . He taught at St. Mary of the Springs College (now known as Ohio Dominican) in Columbus, Ohio. He joined the department at BGSU in 1967 and retired in 1995.

During his tenure in the department, David taught a full range of courses related to his expertise, including modern algebra, set theory, logic, number theory, combinatorial mathematics, algebraic number theory, as well as mathematics education courses. A former student said, " Sorry to hear about Dr. Meronk. I remember him as a very kind person. He taught an excellent discrete math course." He is well remembered for his role as the Graduate Coordinator from 1972 to 1974, during which time a final proposal for the PhD program was prepared, submitted and implemented. He also served as the interim chair of the department in 1994.

He was a well-respected algebraist, who started a research career in integral representation theory of finite groups, and eventually branched out to ordered semigroups, partially ordered sets, and computational number theory. His dissertation was entitled On faithful irreducible integral representations of cyclic over cyclic groups.

He was a member and lector at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, member of the Knights of Columbus and The Mathematical Association of America.

August, 2009.