Franz Peherstorfer July 26, 1950-November 27, 2009

Franz Peherstorfer was born in Zwettl an der Rodl, a village near Linz, the provincial capital of Upper Austria. After attending elementary and secondary schools in and around Linz, he matriculated in the newly founded Johannes Kepler Universität Linz1 in 1970 where he obtained his university degrees, Masters (1975) and Ph.D.2 (1977), both with summa cum laude. He was appointed as Assistent there in 1976. In 1982, Franz received his Habilitation; for his dissertation he was awarded a special prize of the Austrian Mathematical Society. Franz remained at Johannes Kepler University and served as Head of the Group for Dynamical Systems and Approximation Theory until his untimely death. During his tenure there, Franz had 6 Ph.D. students. He had a profound influence on their professional carriers; their reminiscences, see below, provide a vivid testimony of this. Franz was a kind and gentle man, his modesty and reserved manners kept him from