Obituaries for March 2020

Colin R. Blyth

Canadian statistician Colin Ross Blyth died August 22, 2019, at the age of 96.

Born in Guelph, Ontario, on October 24, 1922, he studied at Queen’s University, Kingston (BA, 1944), the University of Toronto (MA, 1946), and the University of California at Berkeley (PhD, 1950), where he was Erich Lehmann’s first PhD student.

During his career, he held positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1950–1974) and Queen’s University (1971–1987) in addition to being a statistical consultant for the Illinois State Geological Survey (1952–1955). He contributed to the development of classical mathematical statistics with more than 30 research articles in mathematics, statistics, and geology journals. He was notably the first to show that the average of a random sample of normal measurements is an admissible estimator, and the method he used to prove this result bears his name. At Urbana-Champaign, he supervised five PhD students (G. Meeden, W. Nelson, R.N. Pillai, R.G. Staudte, M.T. Wasan), who had successful careers and gave him more than 30 academic descendants.

In recognition of his contributions to the profession, including as an associate editor for JASA (1967–1971), Colin was made a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1974) and the American Statistical Association (1975). He was also granted membership to Pi Mu Epsilon and Sigma Xi, both in 1949.

In his retirement, he combined his passions for music and languages to write Gaelic Names of Pipe Tunes in 1994; he also edited Sullivan Ross Volume 1, A Restored Edition, published in 2010, which provides a unique window on the (bagpipe and violin) music of rural Ontario from 1850 to 1900. Moreover, he composed many poems (e.g., “Kate o’Shanter,” published in Scottish Field in 1993) and wrote verse translations of mid-19th century German children’s classics: Struwwelpeter Tales of Hoffmann (1995); Struwwelpeter 2000 (2000); and Max & Moritz 2000 (2006).

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Valerie Thompson, and their children, Mary Alice Snetsinger (Rob), Georgina Roche, Colin M. (Trish), Heather (Rob Smith), Alec (Lisa), and Donald, as well as nine grandchildren.

Richard (Dick) Hunn Jones

Dick Jones, professor emeritus of biostatistics at the University of Colorado (CU), passed away January 11, 2020. He was 85.

Before joining CU in 1975, Dick had already had an illustrious career in applied mathematics. He earned a BS in engineering science in 1956 and an MS in engineering mechanics in 1957, both from Penn State, before earning his PhD in applied mathematics from Brown University in 1961 under the mentorship of Ulf Grenander. His doctoral research topic was time series analysis, the area in which he worked most intensively and for which he was an internationally renowned researcher. Dick then held positions as assistant and associate professor of statistics at The Johns Hopkins University, followed by visiting associate professor of mathematics and then professor and chair of the department of information and computer science at the University of Hawaii.

Over the years, Dick’s applications shifted from atmospheric research to medical research, but his thorough, scholarly approach—situated at the intersection of theory and application—of time series and longitudinal data methodologies is persistent throughout his publications, in particular in his well-known text, Longitudinal Data Analysis with Serial Correlation: A State-Space Approach, published in 1993 by Chapman and Hall/CRC. Dick was elected fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1976 in recognition of his scholarship, mentoring, and many contributions to the profession.

From 1975 to 1982, and again from 1985 to 2005, Dick was the director of the biometrics graduate programs (MS and PhD) at the CU Health Sciences Center campus. He transformed a small, fledgling program into a vigorous and vital one, emphasizing the faculty’s collective strength in the areas of longitudinal data analysis and theory. He also personally mentored 16 MS theses and 13 PhD dissertations during this period. All told, Dick played a major role in the education and career advancement of nearly 100 students in the field of biostatistics alone. He also advised countless others in medical and other graduate programs at CU.

Dick also had an active life outside academia. He had sabbaticals in Japan, Buffalo, Seattle, and Australia and a leave of absence to be the acting director of the department of computer science at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. He visited all seven continents and ran 14 marathons and many triathlons.

Dick leaves his wife, Julie Marshall; his children, Monica McNulty, Earl Marshall, and Katie Marshall; and two grandchildren. His colleagues and students are saddened by his loss and will forever be grateful for his strong and steady leadership, statistical brilliance, generous and welcoming hospitality, and enduring friendship.