Paul Sally

Paul Sally
Paul Sally in 2008
Born	Paul Joseph Sally, Jr. (1933-01-29)January 29, 1933 Roslindale, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	December 30, 2013(2013-12-30) (aged 80) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Citizenship	United States
Institutions	University of Chicago
Alma mater	Brandeis University
Doctoral advisor	Ray Kunze
Known for	Mathematics education

Paul Joseph Sally, Jr. (January 29, 1933 – December 30, 2013) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he was the Director of Undergraduate Studies for 30 years. His research areas were p-adic analysis and representation theory.

He created several programs to improve the preparation of school mathematics teachers, and was seen by many as "a legendary math professor at the University of Chicago".

Sally was born in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts on January 29, 1933. He was a star basketball player at Boston College High School. He received his BS and MS degrees from Boston College in 1954 and 1956.

After a short career in Boston area high schools and at Boston College he entered the first class of mathematics graduate students at Brandeis in 1957 and earned his PhD in 1965. During his graduate career he married Judith D. Sally and had three children in three years. David, the oldest, is a Visiting Associate Professor of Business Administration at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Stephen is a partner at Ropes & Gray, and Paul, the youngest, is Superintendent at New Trier High School.

Sally was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1948. He wore an eye patch and had two prosthetic legs, which caused him to be widely referred to as "Professor Pirate," and "The Math Pirate" around the University of Chicago campus. He was known to detest cell phones in class and has destroyed several over the years by inviting students to stomp on them or by throwing them out of a window.