Alva L. Finkner
Submitted by Peter Bloomfield
Alva L. Finkner, 93, passed away December 3, 2010. He was born in Akron, Colorado, on May 8, 1917. He earned his BS in agronomy from Colorado State College (1938), MS in agronomy from Kansas State College (1940), and PhD in experimental statistics from North Carolina State College (1950). He began his career with the Statistical Reporting Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served as head of the Raleigh Research Office. He was appointed as an associate professor of experimental statistics at NC State from 1950 to 1955, professor from 1955 to 1960, and adjunct professor from 1960 to 1983. He joined Research Triangle Institute in 1960 and was senior vice president before retiring in 1983. He served as deputy director for statistical methodology and standards with the U. S. Census Bureau and was a member of the committee that planned administration of the 1980 Census of Population. His legacy at RTI includes leading its first international programs and “quality of life” studies. He also co-authored Handbook of Area Sampling and was closely involved with the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Finkner was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, where he was awarded several medals, and honorably discharged in 1946. He was a member of the Operations Analysis Standby Unit of the U.S. Air Force from 1950 to 1970 and a member of the National Defense Executive Reserve from 1967 to 1970.
Zakkula Govindarajulu
Submitted by Usha Govindarajulu with contributions from Subir Ghosh
Zakkula Govindarajulu, “Raju,” 77, of Lexington, Kentucky, passed away December 5, 2010. Govindarajulu had a distinguished career in statistics and was known for his work in sequential analysis, nonparametrics, and biostatistics. He earned his PhD in statistics from the University of Minnesota in 1956 under Richard Savage. During his time in Minnesota, he met his wife, Gayatri. He joined the University of Kentucky, Lexington, faculty in 1968.
Govindarajulu was awarded the Jacob Wolfowitz Prize for theoretical advances in the mathematical and management sciences. He also was a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, the American Society for the Advancement of Science, the International Statistical Institute, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Statistical Association. In addition, he published six books and more than 174 research articles, supervised approximately 25 doctoral students, and served on various editorial boards. Govindarajulu, a faithful follower of Sai Baba’s teachings, founded a Sai Baba center in Lexington.
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