John C. Bailar III
Fellow of the ASA, John Christian Bailar III died Tuesday, September 6, 2016, at the age of 83.
Bailar grew up in Illinois and went on to earn his bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Colorado, his medical degree from Yale University, and a PhD in statistics from American University, where he met his wife, Barbara. Barbara was the ASA’s executive director in 1987.
Bailar began his career at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, DC, and wrote many influential papers about cancer treatments. After two years at the Veterans Administration as director of research services, he worked at the Cancer Institute for eight years, where he was editor for their journal.
He was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 1990. Read his full obituary.
Fred Leone
Fred C. Leone, 93, passed away July 14, 2016, at Magnolia Terrace in Galion. He was the ASA’s executive director from 1973–1988, serving longer in that position than anyone since it became a staff position in 1968.
Born August 3, 1922, in New York City, he was the son of Salvatore and Anna (Regalbuto) Leone. He married Elizabeth “Betty” (Spencer) Leone on October 15, 1945, who preceded him in death in May of 2003.
Leone proudly served his country in the United States Navy during World War II. He earned his PhD from Purdue University and was a professor at the University of Iowa. He enjoyed traveling the globe and making memory books for himself.
Howard Raiffa
Howard Raiffa, a cofounder of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (now the Harvard Kennedy School) and a member of the university faculty for 37 years, passed away July 9 at his home in Oro Valley, Arizona. He was 92.
Born in Bronx, New York, in 1924, Raiffa earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, a master’s in statistics, and a doctorate in mathematics, all from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
After teaching at Columbia University from 1952–1957, Raiffa joined the faculty of the business school at Harvard. He retired in December of 1994.
He published many books, including Applied Statistical Decision Theory with Robert Schlaifer, which introduced the idea of conjugate prior distributions.
Much has been written about Raiffa’s life. To look back at his work and teachings, visit his faculty page.
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