Obituary: Gene Chase

Gene Chase, professor of mathematics and computer science emeritus, died in September. A 35-year educator at Messiah, he was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his doctoral studies in math education at Cornell University. 

He was one of the founders of the International Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences. He also coached Messiah’s computer programming team and went with the team to Hawaii for IBM’s international computer programming competition. Even in retirement, he continued to teach part-time at Dickinson College and volunteered his time regularly to help fellow residents at Messiah Lifeways resolve problems with their computers. 

He was highly regarded among his students, peers and friends. He was a wonderful husband and loving father and a man of deep Christian faith. In honor and affirmation of his own volunteer service with Wycliffe Bible Translators (serving in both Texas and Peru), the family is working to establish a scholarship in his memory that will support mathematics or computer science students with an interest in entering the mission field.