Howard S. Garns, Inventor of Sudoku

(March 2, 1905-October 6, 1989)

A sharp-dressing, whistling architect with a thin mustache by day, Howard Garns was intrigued by puzzles. In 1979, in his spare time, he developed a number puzzle he called “The Number Place,” and it was first published as Number Place in the May 1979 issue of Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games. 

It received little success then and became popular only when it was published in Japan in the Nikoli magazine in 1984 and the puzzle’s name was changed to Sudoku, which means single-digit in Japanese. But Garns passed away in October 1989 and didn’t live to see how wildly popular his game would become worldwide.  

Location: Community Mausoleum, Hall 2E, Crypt E-7