Abraham P. Hillman, professor emeritus of mathematics at the U. of New Mexico and passionate proponent of problem-solving, died in his Albuquerque home Jan. 19, 2004, after a long illness. He was 85.
Born in Brooklyn, Hillman took an undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College, winning one of the top five places (along with physicist Richard Feynman) in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition in 1939, the most prestigious college mathematical competition in the US and Canada. He did graduate work at Columbia U. and completed his PhD in mathematics at Princeton under the tutelage of the eminent topologist Solomon Lefschetz.
Hillman was particularly clever at designing problems for all ages that enhanced learning mathematical ideas. Because he believed that such problems stimulated student interest and cultivated skills, he established high school mathematics contests in
a number of states, many of which continue to this day. The contests were open to children in lower grades, in order to identify early talent.
As a professor, Hillman prepared a number of students for leadership roles in mathematics and wrote several textbooks, one on abstract algebra now in its fifth edition.
Hillman is survived by his wife, Josephine.