Fernando Ojeda Llanes: A star shines without limits or veils

Fernando Ojeda Llanes

Finance, economic administration, mathematics and other scientific and social sciences I have had to write in these columns, this time my focus is deeper.

An exceptional man has left. A mathematician, astronomer and philosopher of extraordinary intelligence; but, above all his gifts, a loving human being. Eddie Salazar Gamboa not only sought the laws of the universe in his formulas or the order of the stars in his calculations: he sought in them the living imprint of the Creator.

He was my teacher, and also that of many generations of young people who, under his guidance, learned not only to think rigorously, but to look at the world with wonder and humanity. Today, business leaders, scientists, thinkers, men and women emerged from their classrooms who continue to transmit their legacy: the conviction that intelligence reaches its fullness when it is put at the service of good and truth. His teaching was a fruitful sowing, and his example, a star that continues to guide paths.

I had the privilege – and the honor accompanies me when I remember it – of advising me by putting his prodigious mind at the service of a divine mystery: helping me demonstrate, through his luminous science, that the stars on the mantle in the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe correspond to real constellations in the firmament. With his inexhaustible rigor and his passion for truth, Eddie knew how to see in mathematics a language that also speaks of God. In each figure he found harmony; in each coordinate, a sign of love; in each star, a reflection of Mary’s gaze.

Today, those same stars that he studied with amazement welcome him into the sky. In the presence of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of God, his soul contemplates what he confirmed so many times with his science from Earth: the eternal brilliance of the stars and the cosmos, now revealed in all its fullness. You no longer need telescopes or formulas; the certainty he sought in science has been transformed into pure vision. Mary of Guadalupe, who covers her children with her starry mantle, now in heaven, tenderly covers him and has led him to her beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eddie, friend, teacher and brother of light: enjoy the eternal life in heaven that you so deserve. You who enjoyed looking at the sky from Earth, now contemplate, without limits or veils, the immensity of God that you always sensed. Your calculations have become eternity, and your stars, I sing.

Four days ago I spoke to him on the phone as it is customary to talk to him about his latest research. I was very surprised not to be able to contact him. His family informed me that at that time he could not receive my call. I realized that something serious was happening to him. the correct answer—I didn’t know I was close to traveling to heaven.

To his dear family I send my deepest condolences for his sensitive death, his departure fills us with sadness in this world, but it turns into joy when we fully know that he is in his heaven that he studied so much from this convulsed world, let our hearts rejoice in the peace that he is living together with God Our Lord. Receive this writing as a small honor compared to the greater one you deserve.—Mérida, Yucatán

Doctor in scientific research. Business consultant