In Memorium: G. Thomas Sallee
George Thomas Sallee died unexpectedly in the early evening of Saturday, June 15, 2019, at the UCD Medical Center of hemorrhagic stroke.
Tom was born in Nyssa, a little farming community in eastern Oregon on the banks of the Snake River. He worked in the sugar beet fields and packing shed, became an Eagle Scout, and enjoyed a very happy childhood.
Tom attended the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena as a mathematics major and went to UC Berkeley under a NSF fellowship for his master’s degree in mathematics. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle. While at Berkeley, he met his future wife Joan. Tom was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics by UC Davis in 1966.
Teaching was his true love and he slowly moved to the field of mathematics education, a combination of the fields of both math and education. In 1989, he founded College Prep Math. Its junior high and high school textbooks are used across 49 states.
Donations may be sent for the G. Thomas Sallee Mathematics Teaching Endowment at UC Davis established at the time of Tom’s retirement. You may donate online following the instructions at the right, or checks should be sent in the included envelope, following the instructions on the flap. The memo line should say “G. Thomas Sallee Mathematics Teaching Endowment.”
Media Resources
UC Davis has a series of interviews of emeriti, including G. Thomas Sallee in 2007, a year after his retirement.
One of Sallee's graduate students reminisces about the way Sallee mentored him, and his dedication and humor.