The Department of Computer Science (DCS) deeply mourns the loss of Professor Fahiem Bacchus, who passed away in Toronto on September 22, 2022. DCS sends its deepest condolences to Fahiem’s family and to the broader community of his friends, students, and colleagues.
Fahiem was a renowned computer scientist who, for more than 30 years, made significant contributions to the theory and practice of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically to the field of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR). His research was both broad in scope and deep: his work greatly advanced the mathematical foundations of KR as well as its practice, and he was well-known for his contributions to the development of state-of-the-art SAT and MaxSAT solvers, and planning systems. He authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, winning multiple best-paper awards, and his solvers won top placements in several international competitions. Fahiem was also deeply involved in service to the AI community, most recently serving as president of the board of trustees for the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI,) and as chair of the SAT Association Board.
For his profound impact on the discipline, Fahiem was recognized as a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and was presented with the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association’s highest honour – the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Fahiem Bacchus
(Original photo by Jonathan Lung)
In addition to his stellar research career, Fahiem was an outstanding classroom teacher, and a devoted supervisor and valued mentor to his graduate students. He was also a deeply respected colleague: an astute leader as acting chair of DCS in 2010-2011, as well as during two stints as associate chair, graduate studies, who was widely admired for the insight and sound judgment that he brought to every situation. As importantly, Fahiem was known for his good sense of humor and his big smile that lit up a room.
Before joining DCS, Fahiem had already established himself as stellar researcher and educator. Following a BSc in computer science at the University of Alberta in 1979, and an MSc in mathematics at the University of Toronto in 1983, Fahiem completed his PhD in computer science at the University of Alberta in 1988. After a six-month postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester, he returned to Canada as a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, where he rose through the ranks to the position of Professor. In 1999, he left the University of Waterloo to assume the position of Professor in the Department of Computer Science at U of T.
DCS, and the broader computer science community, have been immeasurably enriched by Fahiem’s intelligence, energy and warmth, and he will be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations, in memory of Fahiem Bacchus, to establish a scholarship in the Department of Computer Science.