My uncle, David A. Huffman, is the creator of Huffman Coding.

While getting his masters degree, a professor gave his students the option of solving a difficult problem instead of taking the final exam. Opting for what he thought was the easy way out, my uncle tried to find a solution to the “smallest code” problem. What his professor didn’t tell him is that no one at that time knew the best solution. As the term drew to a close, David realized he’d have to start studying for the exam and starting throwing away his scratchings on the problem. As one of the papers hit the trash can, the algorithm came to him.

He published the paper “A Method for the Construction of Minimum Redundancy Codes” describing his algorithm in 1952. This became known as Huffman Coding. At the time he didn’t consider copyrighting or patenting it, because was just an algorithm, and he didn’t make a penny off of it. Because of its elegance and simplicity, it is described in many textbooks and several web pages. Today derivative forms of Huffman Coding can found in household appliances (VCRPlus+ codes) and web pages (the Jpeg image file format).

He eventually became a professor at UCSC School of Engineering. In recent decades, his interest turned to the complex mathematical properties of zero-curvature surfaces. “Proofs” of his concepts led to elegant paper foldings which belie their complex mathematical origins. Some of them have even been displayed in art museums.

He received several awards for his contributions to computer science during his career, most recently he was awarded the 1999 IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal recognizing his exceptional contributions to information sciences and systems. Unfortunately he was not able to receive the award in person, due to his ill health.

He was a great person to be around; always good-natured and thought provoking. Conversations with him kept you on your toes, because you couldn’t always tell if he was joking or serious, but always with an apropos story. As an school-aged kid, I remember playing the game of Nim with him on the living room floor and being amazed, and frustrated, that he ALWAYS won. He later wrote out the strategy, in a detailed long-hand note to me, explaining the concepts of binary exclusive-or arithmetic. A bonding moment with a fellow geek, of sorts. Partly because of his interest in computers, I followed his footsteps into software engineering.

He stayed active until lymphoma spread through his body in the last year of his life. To an Ohioan, he seemed to be a typical Californian. A surfer and scuba diver into his 70s. He married his girlfriend of a few decades the week before he died in the hospital. Although I was not there, I was later told it was beautiful ceremony. His new bride and close family were with him at the hospital when he died.

He was loved and is missed.