Longtime KU mathematics professor dies at 69

That was in addition to his 40-year career as a mathematics professor at Kansas University.

Szeptycki, 69, Lawrence, died Friday at University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, Kan. Friends say he’d had health problems in recent years and that the exact cause of death still was unknown.

His colleagues said he traveled frequently, enjoyed chamber music and lived a full life.

“He just knew how to do things well,” KU mathematics professor William Paschke said. “For a while, he and I were fishing buddies. Give him a fish, and he’d filet it just like that … To watch him do it, it was a work of art.”

As a mathematics scholar, he liked to collaborate on research with a wide range of people rather than work in isolation.

“He was always coming into my office and showing me something he’d just discovered or asking me a question he’d been pondering, or telling jokes. He did a lot of that,” said KU mathematics professor Robert D. Brown, who worked with Szeptycki for roughly 40 years.