Wolfgang Paul Kappe

Wolfgang Paul Kappe, 84, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Binghamton University, died on Friday, February 20, 2015. He is survived by his wife, Luise-Charlotte of Vestal, NY, sons Bernhard and Dietrich, their spouses and two granddaughters of Chicago, IL. He was born in Berlin, Germany on March 11, 1930, the only child of Horst and Hildegard (Tharun) Kappe. He grew up during the instability of the pre-war years and during WWII, experiences that shaped his views as a committed pacifist. He completed Abitur in 1947 and enrolled at the Technische Universität in West Berlin then at the Humboldt Universität in East Berlin. Finding chemistry courses crowded with veterans, he settled on mathematics. He commuted from West to East until 1959 when conditions forced him to enroll at the Universität Frankfurt and relocate to the Mathematical Research Institute at Oberwolfach as administrator, completing his doctorate in 1961. There he met his wife, mathematician Luise-Charlotte Menger. They married 1962 and emigrated to the US in 1963 to join Hans Zassenhaus at Ohio State. In 1968 they moved to Vestal, NY to join the mathematics faculty at Binghamton where they were instrumental in developing the Ph.D. program. Wolfgang was an algebraist working in group theory. His major contributions were in properties of groups, a field established by his advisor, Reinhold Baer. Using commutator calculus, he established in his dissertation that the right 2-Engel elements form a characteristic subgroup in any group, a widely cited result. Of equal significance is his 1972 result, jointly with his wife, that 3-Engel groups can be characterized as the groups having normal closures of nilpotency class 2, extending W.F. Levi’s characterization of 2-Engel groups as those groups having abelian normal closures. Wolfgang's passions included photography, opera, and steam trains. He spent most summers in Germany and enjoyed hiking in the Alps with his family. The family thanks his cardiologist Dr. Paul Traverse for keeping his heart beating many years after his 1991 surgery, and his aide Keesa Ragsdale and the staff of the Susquehanna Nursing Home for their care in his final days. Funeral services will be private. Wolfgang’s family will welcome friends and family to a celebration of his life, date and time to be announced shortly. Memorial contributions in Wolfgang’s name may be made to the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902–6000. To forward condolences please visit www.demunnfh.com. Arrangements are directed by DeMunn Funeral Home.