Donald J. Newman, universally recognized as one of the world’s outstanding mathematicians and a member of Temple’s Mathematics Department at Temple from 1976 to 1994, passed away March 28. He was 76.

Newman’s work included contributions to a wide variety of fields, including classical analysis, number theory, approximation theory, applied mathematics, differential equations, combinatorics, functional analysis and recreational mathematics. He was particularly known for his quick and elegant solutions to difficult problems.

The author of numerous papers and five books, his most influential work was probably in the fields of analytic number theory and approximation theory; his paper on rational approximation has spawned an entire mathematical “industry” in that field.

He may be most remembered for his first truly elementary proof of the famed Prime Number Theorem — which had been sought for 100 years by many of history’s top number theorists — which he published while at Temple.

A child prodigy, Newman was considered by many to have been the greatest problem solver of this era. As an undergraduate at City College of New York, he mastered the William Lowell Putnam Competition, a six-hour exam consisting of 12 original problems administered annually to promising undergraduate mathematics students. The winner is awarded automatic acceptance and a full scholarship to Harvard’s Ph.D. program in mathematics.

Ordinarily, six or seven solutions are sufficient for a student to win the competition. In his freshman year at CCNY, Newman won the Putnam with nine correct solutions. As a sophomore, he again won the competition with an unprecedented perfect 12 solutions, a fete he repeated in his junior year. He didn’t bother taking the exam as a senior.

Newman was a good friend and longtime associate of mathematician and Nobel Laureate John Nash, whose life was depicted in the book and film “A Beautiful Mind.” When Newman retired from Temple, the university hosted a mathematics conference in his honor that was attended by a “who’s who” in mathematics, including Nash, who spoke at the closing dinner, sharing reminiscences of their interactions in the early days of their careers.

Prior to joining Temple, Newman served on the mathematics faculty at MIT, Brown University and Yeshiva University, and was a distinguished chair at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The 1985 recipient of Temple’s Paul W. Eberman Faculty Research Award, Newman’s work and reputation as a mathematician were respected around the world. His achievements are even more remarkable considering he battled multiple sclerosis for nearly 50 years.

“A colleague who had the opportunity to visit the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War told me that Soviet mathematicians seemed only to want to know if he knew Newman and to find out what sort of person he was,” said Temple mathematics professor Louis Raymon, a longtime colleague of Newman’s. “More recently, a former Soviet mathematician confided to me that his first professional priority upon his defection was to meet Donald Newman.”

Considered a great coup for Temple when Newman was recruited to Temple’s Mathematics Department, his presence helped the program establish a world-class reputation, making it easier to recruit promising young mathematicians. In 1984, Newman led the effort to recruit Leon Ehrenpreis, considered among the greatest contributors to the development of the central field of partial differential equations, and also a former colleague of Nash.

“I think it is safe to say that Professor Ehrenpreis, who remains a colleague even today, would not have considered joining our faculty were it not for the presence of Professor Newman,” said Raymon.

Newman is survived by his wife, Herta, sons David and Daniel, and three grandchildren.