Evarist Giné, department head of mathematics, died on March 13.

Giné received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1973 with Richard Dudley as his advisor, and held positions at a number of other universities before joining UConn as a professor of mathematics in 1990. He also held a joint position in the Department of Statistics.

Giné was a distinguished mathematician who worked on mathematical statistics and probability in infinite dimensions. He was the author of two books and more than 100 articles, with many appearing in the very top journals in his field, such as the Annals of Statistics. His third book, Mathematical Foundations of Infinite-Dimensional Statistical Models, written with colleague and UConn post-doc, Richard Nickl of the University of Cambridge, will appear soon with Cambridge University Press.

Among many signs of professional recognition, he was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, and a recipient of the UConn Alumni Association Faculty Excellence in Research Award.

In June 2014, friends and colleagues of Giné organized a three-day conference in honor of his 70th birthday at the Center for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. The conference drew a worldwide audience, who celebrated “the many areas that Giné transformed and worked on in his distinguished career.”

Giné was a quiet man with a dry sense of humor. He assumed the headship of Mathematics in 2012 after the death of former head of department Miki Neumann, and although he said he never had the desire or ambition to take on the job, he felt a sense of responsibility to give back to the department.

“I will miss his kindness and his dedication,” said Jeremy Teitelbaum, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of mathematics.

Giné is survived by his wife, Rosalind Eastaway, and his daughters Roser and Nuria.