Saunders Mac Lane

Saunders Mac Lane (4 August 1909 to 14 April 2005), born Leslie Saunders MacLane, was an American mathematician who co-founded category theory with Samuel Eilenberg. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut, near where his family lived in Taftville, and was the eldest of three brothers; his brother Gerald MacLane also became a mathematics professor, at Rice University and Purdue University. His father and grandfather were both ministers, and his mother, Winifred Saunders, studied at Mount Holyoke College and taught English, Latin and mathematics. He was christened Leslie Saunders MacLane, but the first name fell into disuse because his parents came to dislike it.