Alicia Nash, former wife of the brilliant Nobel Prize mathematical genius, John Forbes Nash, Alicia Nash is responsible for saving the lives of her son and husband who were both diagnosed with schizophrenia. An MIT physics major when she married Nash in 1957, she later came to her ex-husband’s aid in 1970 by sheltering and providing him a home for the next two decades. Alicia’s life is still very hard, even today, she continues to work as a programmer with a modest salary and takes care of her adult son despite the financial and emotional burden. Alicia Nash is a hero to many who know her story as a mental-health care advocate.

John Nash and his wife Alicia died unexpectedly in an auto accident on May 23, 2015. They were 86 and 82. While John was famous for many things, including his 1994 Nobel Prize in economics and his ability to slowly pull out of the cognitive fog of schizophrenia, to me they are best remembered together as one of the great love stories of all time. Alicia deserves fame and remembrance for her beautiful mind as well. Without her, there very likely would have been no recovery and no Nobel Prize.

Her life with Nash was chronicled in the 1998 book, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, as well as in the 2001 film of the same title directed by Ron Howard, in which she was portrayed by Jennifer Connelly.”