Glenn Ierley
HOUGHTON — Glenn Ierley died peacefully in the early hours of Thursday, May 16, 2024, at age 71 after a long battle with cancer. Glenn’s friends and family were with him in his last hours, in person or calling in, so he left this life embraced in love.
Glenn was born in Morristown, NJ, and spent his first eighteen years in the nearby town of Florham Park. His prodigious gifts in math in particular became apparent in high school, graduating as a National Merit Scholarship winner and receiving a full scholarship to California Institute of Technology.
When he finished graduate school, Glenn knew he wanted to live someplace cold and rural, so he jumped at the chance to teach at Michigan Tech, taking a position in the math department in 1983. Glenn quickly grew to love Houghton and the UP, sailing and biking with his friends, snowshoeing, tending to his garden, and fixing up his house.
Even after taking a prestigious faculty position at Scripps Oceanographic Institution early in his career, Glenn was always keen to return to Houghton, racing back home for summers and other breaks. Over time, he became more and more involved in the life of the community, especially after retirement when he came back to Houghton full-time.
Glenn treasured volunteering at Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly, organizing food deliveries, and became an accomplished photographer, displaying his own work, and taking pictures for the men’s basketball team at Tech and the Copper Country Community Arts Center. Food and wine were a love of Glenn’s, so cooking fine meals and enjoying French wines were a regular occurrence. Glenn also remained deeply involved in research and scholarship to the very end of his life. Reflecting his love for teaching and mentoring, Glenn stayed in touch with many of his former Ph.D. students.
Glenn was far too humble to say, but he really was a Renaissance Man, vast in intellect and talent, with a good heart and integrity to spare.
Glenn is predeceased by his parents, Reginald and Alma Ierley. Glenn is survived by his sisters Alice and Edna, brother Doug, brothers-in-law Steven and Barry, sister-in-law Adrienne, nieces Robyn, Merry, and Emma, nephews Noah and Henry, and his furry loved ones, Chaucer and Scratchy. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly in Hancock, Michigan, or the American Cancer Society.