John Pfaltzgraff was born on November 1, 1936, and died on October 12, 2014. John received his AB in Physics from Harvard University in 1958 and earned his M.A. (1961) and PhD (1963) both in mathematics at the University of Kentucky under Professor W.C. Royster.

Dr. Pfaltzgraff served as an assistant professor at the University of Kansas (1963-65) and a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University (1965-67.)

In 1967 the Pfaltzgraff family of five moved to Chapel Hill where John Pfaltzgraff began his career at UNC as an assistant math professor. His career with the UNC Mathematics Department spanned 40 years (1967-2007.) He became a full professor of mathematics in 1974 and served as the chairman of the Mathematics Department for 9 years during the 1980s.

He worked in the fields of one and several complex variables, published many research papers, and supervised Ph.D. students in these areas. He was renowned among graduate students for his excellent teaching of graduate complex analysis.