In Memoriam

ICTP was saddened to learn of the passing of Tony Ezome, a mathematics Regular Associate from 2018 to 2023 who worked closely with ICTP emeritus mathematician Fernando Villegas.
 
Ezome's colleagues at the African Network for Arithmetic Geometry and Applications, where he was a programme coordinator, wrote the following tribute:

After completing a master's degree and then a doctorate in Toulouse (France) in 2010, Tony returned to Gabon with the ambition of  developing a research team in arithmetic geometry. He took up his first position at the University of Science and Technology in Masuku, Franceville, and was then appointed to the ENS in Libreville.
 
Tony was actively involved in projects to develop mathematics in Africa, with support from CIMPA, CNRS, Inria, the Simons Foundation, and the European Union, among others. He was the founder and head of the Pole of Research in Mathematics in Africa (PREMA) from 2012 to 2021, co-leader of the associated Inria teams Macisa and Fast from 2012 to 2019, and one of the coordinators of the African Network for Arithmetic Geometry and Applications (ANAGA, ) since 2021.
 
He has been a visiting fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), at Oberwolfach, at IHES, at ICMS, at the University of Bordeaux, at the University of Franche-Comté, at the University of Groningen, and a member of the Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM).
 
He has given over twenty master courses on the African continent in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Madagascar, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. He was the instigator of the “Algebraic Days of Gabon”, a recurring event that aims to bring together young, established mathematicians from Central Africa working in algebra, number theory, algebraic geometry, and information theory. Deeply committed to the education of students, he has supervised two doctoral students and eight master's students, and was currently supervising two doctoral students.
 
He was one of the greatest and most dedicated scientists on his continent. His boundless energy, his commitment to training young mathematicians, his passion for mathematics, his cheerfulness, and his humility left a lasting impression on everyone who had the chance to meet him.
 
His disappearance is a great loss to mathematics in Africa.