A. K. Dewdney has died

Alexander DewdneySkip to content

After a brief illness Alexander Keewatin "Kee" Dewdney paased away surrounded by family at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. He was predeceased by his first wife, Patricia Dewdney in 2020, and by his son, Jonathan, in 2022.
Kee was born in London to author Selwyn Dewdney and art therapist Irene Dewdney. Early in life he developed a passionate interest in biology, but it was his fascination with higher mathematics that led to a joint doctorate in mathematics from Michigan and Waterloo Universities. From 1969 until his retirement in 1995 Kee went on to teach in the computer science department at The University of Western Ontario, after which he became Full Professor of Computer Science at The University of Waterloo. His mathematical focus was complexity theory and theory of computation. During these years he also wrote a monthly column for Scientific American.
His lifelong passion for biology eventually led to his becoming steward of the Newport Forest tract on the Thame River, where he compiled an extensive list of species while also researching the mathematics of species abundance. In recognition of this work he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Biology at The University of Western Ontario.
He is the author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, including a speculative bestseller called The Planiverse. Briefly, in the 1960s, he made experimental films, most notably The Malatese Cross Movement.
All who knew Kee were touched by his charisma, his wonderful sense of humour and his steadfast generosity. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Elaine Dewdney, his brothers, Donner, Peter and Christopher, his nieces and nephews and many friends, and by members of London's Muslim community, where he was known as Khalil.