WELCOME to the Ivan Rival Memorial Website updated on January 22, 2007, to mark the 5th anniversary of the death of a dear husband, father, son, friend, colleague and teacher.

Website launch generates enthusiastic response

The launch of this website on January 22, 2003, generated an immediate and enthusiastic response from Ivan's former friends and colleagues, and friends of the family. Here is a sampling:

"What a superb idea!" —friend of the family

"What a joy to review your website (entirely!) It is wonderful and the eulogy you wrote was thick with visual pictures of your dad and his character—I really enjoyed reading it." —former Calgary neighbour

"I think the site is spectacular! [...] an article from Ivan that I have never read before! Thanks so much for this gift." —colleague

"What a great website! I loved all of it and, especially, the pictures. [...] Best of luck on this project. It's a worthy way of showing great love and respect for your father. I know he would be pleased! (But be careful to keep it very factual or he'll—somehow—correct it!) [...] I'll make this website a favourite." —colleague

"I visited the site and was deeply impressed by the wonderful legacy your father left—and by your site, which allows us to share in the life he lived. I hope you don't mind that I am passing it along [...]—we are collecting essays for future interdisciplinary writing courses dedicated to math and science majors, and I found his writing to be intriguing and lively." —NYU professor

"I went to the memorial web site today and I am most impressed with it. It was put together with a lot of love!" —colleague

"My very small contribution is a beautiful sentence by French poet Paul Claudel, which perhaps Ivan would appreciate: L' ORDRE EST LE PLAISIR DE LA RAISON." —colleague

"I went through the site today. You have done very well. It provides a thoughtful and broad picture of Ivan's life and accomplishments."
—colleague

"I had a look at the website for Ivan and was very much impressed by the person. What a pity that we lost track of one another and that I didn't get a chance to meet him." —colleague

"I knew [Ivan] when we were high school students at Westdale Secondary [Hamilton, Ontario]. He was the only person I knew of who accelerated two grades and seemed not to suffer socially on account of it. Ivan hosted a get together of intellectually minded students at his home and I have many fond memories of stimulating evenings we had under his chairmanship." —fellow high school student

"Thank you very much for forwarding us your lovely homage to Professor Rival: the web-site prepared in his memory to celebrate his life. A year has passed since the tragic event. Yes, we have remembered and dedicated him a prayer. Professor Rival was a respected member of this community." —colleague

"Beautiful website. Thanks for sharing." —friend of the family

"What a wonderful site! A real tribute!" —DAG employee

Why, you may ask, a memorial website?

There are several reasons. For one, Ivan's last decade was very much shaped by the emergence of the Internet. At his disposal -- finally! -- was the necessary technology to realize his dream of transforming three decades of pure mathematical theoretical research into practical applications helpful to people's everyday lives. To this end, Ivan co-founded Decision Academic Graphics Inc. and led the design of its ground-breaking pure Internet student information management applications for students, faculty and registrars. It seems appropriate to pay tribute to Ivan's life and work by using the same medium that inspired his imagination.

Another compelling reason to memorialize Ivan on the web is that as we gather information about his life, from photographs to publications, we can rapidly share these with family, friends and colleagues around the world.

And a third reason relates to one of the Internet's most essential features: it is a collaborative medium. The memorial website is an ongoing project and we invite you to contribute. We are interested in learning how your life intersected with Ivan's. Do you have a memory to share? A photo of Ivan at a conference? Can you identify a missing article? Do you have other ideas?

This website is just one of a variety of memorial projects that include: ORDER, the bronze memorial sculpture; the monument in Beechwood Cemetery, Ivan's final resting place; and a scientific obituary in the mathematics journal ORDER. For more information, visit the Memorial Projects page.

The Rival family gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Merv Henwood (document preparation and general criticism), Guy-Vincent Jourdan (technical resources and document review) and Chantal-Andrée Samson (website design) in the creation of this website.

We hope that this site will serve as a virtual space that you can visit from time to time to recall memories and reflect on Ivan's life and work.

Sincerely,

Robert Rival