David Sprows

David Joseph Sprows (Dave), 80, of Narberth, PA passed away peacefully on November 19, 2019 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  He is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Anna May, as well as his three children and their spouses: David and his wife Lori of Southport CT; Jennifer and her husband Jim of Newtown PA; and Sandra and her husband Parker of Stoneybrook NY.  In addition, “Pop Pop” will be greatly missed by his 5 grandchildren: Colin, Patrick, Matthew, Michael and Carolyn.

Dave was born on December 19, 1938 in Northeast Philadelphia.  He grew up in the Frankfort section of Philadelphia with his late mother, Louise Rutter, and received a scholarship to study Math, Physics and History at West Chester University.  After getting his master’s degree at Villanova, he was granted his PHD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dave spent 58 years as a Professor of Mathematics at Villanova University and was teaching students as recently as the fall semester of 2018.  Professor Sprows was an accomplished mathematician, specializing in topology, with a long history of publications in well-respected mathematics journals around the world.  However, his real passion was teaching.  He loved being in front of his students and he was a very popular teacher whose classes filled up very quickly.  Professor Sprows had a great sense of humor and his students really appreciated his efforts to keep math classes fun.  He loved Villanova and contributed a lot to the school over the course of his long career.

Dave and Anna May had an incredible 58-year marriage that was a model for everyone that knew them.  They could be found around Narberth holding hands on long walks right up until the end.  Nothing made him happier than spending time with his grandchildren, all of who adored him.  He was a passionate Villanova Basketball fan and was very happy to see Villanova win 2 more national titles in 2016 and 2018, and finally got to see his Philadelphia Eagles win a Super Bowl.  Dave was also a voracious reader, loved old movies, collected comics, and won a lot of “Benjamins” playing Texas Hold‘em.   Dave considered himself to be quite the dancer and was very proud of winning a junior high school jitterbug contest.

He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

The services will be private.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the The Sprows Family Undergraduate Research Fellowship Endowed Fund at Villanova University Development Office - Gift Processing, 800 Lancaster Avenue.  Villanova, PA   19085-1673.  Checks can be made out to Villanova University with David J. Sprows in the memo line.  Alternatively, donations can be made at www.villanova.edu/makeagift and click on Memorial Donations.