Our beloved colleague, teacher, and mentor Professor Michael Barrus passed away on May 29, 2025, after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 45 years old.
Professor Barrus was a dedicated educator who truly cared about his students. It was due to his dedication and patience that students mentored by him were so successful. He instilled a love for mathematics in them, and many have gone on to further studies.
During his eleven years at URI, cut short so painfully, Michael mentored four Ph.D. students who successfully earned their Ph.D. degree. Another of his Ph.D. students is expected to graduate next year.
Michael Barrus was an outstanding scientist in the area of discrete mathematics and graph theory. His passing is a huge loss to the research strength of our department and our university. He collaborated with researchers within URI and beyond. His collaborations involved scientists in computer science, graph theory, and combinatorics, focused on clique problems and graphs representing degree sequences.
Most of all we will remember and miss Mike Barrus for his legendary kindness and gentle manner, his generosity and willingness to help, and his warm and friendly smile that made everyone around him feel safe.
Michael passed away surrounded by his beloved family: his wife Michelle and their three children: Katy, Abigail, and Lincoln. He is survived by his parents and his five siblings, and many in-laws, nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends.
Services for Michael Barrus will be provided by the Fagan-Quinn funeral home in North Kingstown and by his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Narragansett.
Visitation will be on Tuesday June 3, at the Fagan-Quinn Funeral Home, 825 Boston Neck Rd, North Kingstown, from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm.
Funeral service will be on Wednesday, June 4 at 10 am at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 1240 Boston Neck Rd in Narragansett.