Andrew French Acker III

Andrew French Acker, III, age 83, died Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at Bethany Manor in Story City, Iowa, having survived 21 years of Parkinson’s Disease. He was born May 9, 1943 in New London, Connecticut to Andrew F. Acker, Jr. and Miriam (Woodhull) Acker.

Andrew grew up in rural New York State, and graduated as valedictorian from Bridgehampton High School in Bridgehampton, NY. He went on to earn his BS in physics from Union College and his PhD in mathematics from Boston University. Andrew taught mathematics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany for 12 years, and retired as full professor from Wichita State University in Kansas. He was a prolific author of published papers in applied mathematics. Following his retirement in 2013, he embarked on trying to read all 1127 published papers which cited his work to date.

Andrew is survived by his proudest achievements, his children: Denise Acker Shadat of Germany, Marcella Acker of Austria, Joseph Scott of Minnesota, Laurel Scott of Iowa, Michael Dorian of Illinois, and Christian Acker of Texas; grandchildren: Kestrel and Ada; sister Marilynn Acker Ezell of New Hampshire; nephews Alexander Acker of Indonesia and Scott Ezell of California, and niece Alison Ezell of Virginia; and his closest friends Chana Kowalski Acker of Germany and Catherine Scott of Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Keith Acker of Connecticut.

His cremains will be interred with his parents at Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton, New York.

Memorial contributions may be directed to The Michael J. Fox Foundation in his loving memory.

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