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Obituary: David Blackwell 1919–2010 14 . IMs Bulletin Volume 39 . Issue 8 Obituary: David Blackwell 1919–2010 The last Olympian figure of the statistics elected a member of the National Academy Statistics pantheon residing in the University of of Sciences in 1965, and a member of the of California at Berkeley has fallen. David American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Blackwell passed away on July 8, 2010, at 1968. Department the age of 91. David Blackwell was the W.W. Rouse David Blackwell was born on April 24, Ball Lecturer at Cambridge University, Berkeley 1919, in Centralia, Illinois, where he went UK; Wald Lecturer of the Institute of UC David Blackwell at his 90th birthday party at Berkeley through the public school system. He was Mathematical Statistics; and Faculty awarded the AB (1938), AM (1939), and Research Lecturer at UC-Berkeley. He is a classic on this subject matter, and his PhD(1941) degrees, in mathematics, from was awarded the TIMS/ORSA John Von book on elementary statistics, Basic Statistics the University of Illinois; Joseph Doob was Neumann Theory Prize, the R.A. Fisher (1969), is a gem and a breeze of fresh air his thesis advisor. Award by the Committee of Presidents of in the existing curriculum. Between 1955 After three-year appointments as a the Statistical Societies, and the Berkeley and 1981, David Blackwell was the advisor Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies Citation. of 65 students. In a single year alone, he (Princeton), and Instructor at Southern During his professional tenure, David graduated 7 students! University (Baton Rouse, LA) and Clark Blackwell served the UC System in many The hallmark of David Blackwell was College (GA), he joined Howard University ways, including the directorship of the elegance and simplicity over mathematical (Washington DC) in 1944 as an Assistant UK-Ireland UC Study Center (1973–75) abstraction. He was spoken of with awe Professor, to be promoted to Associate (in the framework of Education Abroad in professional circles, and in many ways, Professor in 1946, and Professor in 1947; Program), his campus, including an he was larger than life. He was a wonder- he served as Head of the Department of Assistant Deanship of the College of Letters ful person, but always retained an air of Mathematics from 1947 to 1954. and Science (1964–68), and his department privacy. He had the ability and gift to take a He was Visiting Professor at in a multitude of ways. Indeed, it is not complicated situation, scientific or personal, UC-Berkeley from 1954 to 1955, and an overstatement to say that he was the and resolve it with remarkable clarity and stayed on as Professor in the Department conscience of his department and a colossal simplicity. It has been said that when he of Statistics, newly established by Jerzy figure on campus. first arrived at Berkeley, he had difficulty in Neyman, declining offers from the He served his profession as President of locating suitable housing to accommodate University of Chicago and Stanford. He the IMS, the International Association for his large family (David and his wife Ann served as Professor of Statistics from 1955 Statistics in Physical Sciences, the Bernoulli had 8 children) so he solved the problem to 73, and as Professor of Mathematics Society for Mathematical Statistics and by camping temporarily in a park! He was and Statistics thereafter. He chaired the Probability, and as Vice-President of the keenly aware of social injustice perpetrated Department of Statistics from 1957 to 61, American Mathematical Society and the in the world, but also espoused the position and retired in 1988. International Statistical Institute. that a truly worthy person would eventually Between 1966 and 1992, David David Blackwell’s research consists of be recognized as such, and be accorded Blackwell was awarded 12 Honorary D.Sc. ground-breaking work and covers a wide appropriate treatment. degrees by ten US universities, one British, spectrum of subjects in mathematical David Blackwell will certainly be missed and one South African university. He was statistics, probability, measure theory, and by his many students, colleagues and elected Fellow of all major professional game theory. It is represented by more than friends, and will always be affectionately societies (IMS, ASA, American Association 90 papers, each of which is a specimen of remembered for the great mathematician, for the Advancement of Science, American deceptive simplicity and sparkling clarity, superb teacher, and sterling human being Mathematical Society), and an Honorary and a joy to read. His book on game theory, he was. Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions Professor George G. Roussas the American Philosophical Society. He was (1954), co-authored with M.A. Girshick, Department of Statistics, UC-Davis.
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