James Munkres: key obituary facts
Is James Munkres dead? Yes. James Munkres died on July 30, 2026, at age 95.
Cause of death: James Munkres's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was James Munkres known for?
He was an American mathematician.
More about James Munkres
Born: 18 August 1930.
Place of birth: Omaha.
Gender: male.
Occupation: mathematician, topologist, university teacher.
Nationality: United States.
Education: Princeton University, University of Michigan, Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Employer: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Awards: Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Also known as: James Raymond Munkres, James R. Munkres.
Known for: Hungarian algorithm.
James Munkres, an American mathematician known for his work in topology and the Hungarian algorithm, died on July 30, 2026, aged 95.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he studied at Nebraska Wesleyan University, the University of Michigan and Princeton University before joining the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, he taught mathematics and became known for a body of textbooks that included Topology, Analysis on Manifolds, Elements of Algebraic Topology, Elementary Differential Topology and Elementary Linear Algebra.
His work also included the Munkres assignment algorithm and contributions to the smoothing of homeomorphisms. He was a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.