Obituary of Clifford Allan Long


	Cliff was born on the south side of Chicago on April 10th, 1931, son of Peter Allan and Marguerite Mildred Miller Long, both originally of the Mooretown area of Ontario, Canada. He had one brother, Edmund Thomas Long, who preceded him in death. Cliff's father was a carpenter, from whom he learned a love of wood and many useful skills which would serve him well his entire life. His mother was a church-goer who took him and his brother to Gresham Methodist Church. It was there that he met many lifelong friends and role models, and began his commitment to a Christian way of life. 
	The Great Depression was in full swing at the time of Cliff's birth and there were some lean years until the war effort associated with World War Two provided work for his father in the defense plants. During those years Cliff and his mother and brother would go  to Canada to spend the summer, to help on the farm and to reduce the burden on his struggling father. Cliff learned many skills related to farming and mechanics from this experiece,  skills which he honed over the course of his life. Cliff never forgot that his roots extended north to Canada.  
	Following high school graduation Cliff was offered a half-time scholarship at the University of Chicago, but couldn't afford to attend.  Instead, he took a position as an order checker at Armour Inc., at the stockyards.  Cliff began attending Wilson Junior College and then left the stockyards for the University of Illinois (Navy Pier). He studied mathematics, and was a member of the gymnastics team, with a specialty in the flying rings. After a few years at Navy Pier, Cliff moved to the Champaign-Urbana campus and became involved at McKinley Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church primarily for students. He became a member of the choir and drama group, and it was there that he met his bride-to-be, Patricia Marilyn (Lyn) Cline. They were married on September 7th, 1957. Their first child, Steven Allan, was born in Champaign in 1959. 
  	Cliff obtained his bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and finally a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Illinois. His objective was to teach at a university, and Cliff's first and only teaching position was at Bowling Green State University. Cliff began teaching mathematics at BGSU in 1960, and he taught there for the next 35 years.
	Upon arrival in Bowling Green, the small family began attending the First Presbyterian Church. In short order the church grew by three, as Cliff and Lyn added two more sons and a daughter (Andrew Edmund, Thaddeus Cline, and Melinda Suzanne). Cliff was a faithful servant of the church for over 40 years, serving as Sunday school teacher, Elder, Deacon, and member of the Trustees, as well as singing in the choir. Cliff's carpentry skills are reflected in various ways, large and small, throughout the building. Those skills were also useful on several summer mission trips around the country, during which many home repairs were carried out under his careful eye and hand.
	In addition to his work for the First Presbyterian Church, Cliff spent untold hours working on other charitable projects.  In his early years at BGSU he was active in United Christian Fellowship (UCF),  a student-centered ecumenical group on campus. He was around at the inception of Wheeled Meals, creating the styrofoam cases used to deliver the meals in the first few years; he has since helped serve those meals for many years. He was active in Habitat for Humanity before his failing health made further application of his construction skills impossible.
	Cliff was well respected in the mathematics community, once serving as Governor of the Ohio section of the Mathematical Association of America. His mathematical focus was on two areas of special interest: computer graphics, and the visualization of mathematical ideas. He witnessed the  infancy of the computer at the University of Illinois, and followed it through its adolescence while at BGSU. He was one of many who helped computing reach a certain level of maturity in our time, when the computer seems but a simple and useful appliance in so many homes. One aspect of the visualization of mathematical ideas that many people appreciated was his sculpting:  Cliff expressed his mathematical interests in art works which he carved from wood and stone. Even those petrified of mathematics enjoyed seeing and touching his mathematical sculptures.
	In spite of his many accomplishments in the subject matter of mathematics, Cliff was most commited to serving students through his teaching. Over the years many students paid their respects to him in various ways: some became mathematicians, some sent Christmas cards and occasional letters, and some would return from time to time to check in on their professor.
	If the human face of mathematics was what he loved most, it should come as no surprise that it was the human face of life that he valued most as well: Cliff was actively involved in family life, and felt blessed to be the patriarch of a large and loving family. He taught and coached his children in sports, carved individual hand-made gifts for each child and grandchild, sang in a barbershop quartet with his sons, and spent his summers traveling the country with his family. He is survived by his wife, his four children, their spouses, and eleven beautiful grandchildren, who will all miss him dearly.
	The last seven years of Cliff's life were afflicted by Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood currently considered terminal; but he lived each day with dignity and with the assurance of the love and support of his friends and family.  He felt himself extremely lucky to enjoy the support of those friends whom he considered family: the love and respect he shared with friends throughout his life returned to him in his hours of need, during which he was showered with help and care. He knew how blessed he was, but would have been reluctant to recognize how faithfully he had earned the support he received. Friends and family were his focus and greatest treasure.
	A memorial service for Cliff will be held at the First Presbyterian Church .... The family requests that memorials be sent to....