Theodore Seio Chihara, an American mathematician, died on February 15, 2026.
He worked on orthogonal polynomials and introduced the Al-Salam–Chihara, Brenke–Chihara and Chihara–Ismail polynomials. Chihara earned his PhD from Purdue University, where his thesis advisor was Arthur Rosenthal.
He was the brother of composer Paul Chihara.
Theodore Seio Chihara (March 14, 1929 – February 11, 2026) was an American mathematician working on orthogonal polynomials who introduced Al-Salam–Chihara polynomials, Brenke–Chihara polynomials, and Chihara–Ismail polynomials. His brother was composer Paul Chihara. He earned his PhD from Purdue University, where his thesis advisor was Arthur Rosenthal. Chihara died on February 11, 2026, at the age of 96.