The Department of Mathematics is saddened to share that Professor Emeritus Stephen A. Saxon (April 2, 1942 ~ January 8, 2026) passed away at the age of 83.
Stephen Saxon was born in Springfield, Tennessee, to Dr. John D. and Sarsa C. Saxon and was the youngest of twelve children. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Florida State University in 1969. Later that year, he and his wife Brenda moved to Gainesville, where he began a long career at the University of Florida. Professor Saxon served on the UF mathematics faculty for 35 years before retiring in 2004.
During his academic career, Professor Saxon was a highly respected member of the department’s analysis group and maintained an active international research presence. He published extensively in functional analysis and topology, with a strong focus on locally convex spaces, function spaces, and related structural properties in analysis and topology, and was elected to the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in recognition of his scholarly contributions.
In addition to his academic work, Professor Saxon was an accomplished bass-baritone with an international performance career spanning four continents. He appeared as a soloist in national telecasts and gave more than twenty-five solo performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., reflecting his deep commitment to both mathematics and the arts.
Professor Saxon is survived by his wife of 63 years, Brenda Miller Saxon, and by his son, Benjamin D. Saxon (Pamela), of Orlando, Florida.
Professor Saxon will be remembered as a dedicated scholar, colleague, and teacher whose long service and wide-ranging interests left a lasting impression on the department and the university.