The “Conversations” sections of Statistical Science are now available for open access. These interviews are valuable perspectives on the history of our field. But as I look over the list of names here, I am sad to reflect on the influential statisticians who passed away in 2016.
Earlier this year, I know we lost Peter Hall and Charles Stein, important contributors to statistical theory and practice.
This month, my department bid farewell to Steve Fienberg, a wonderful mentor, teacher, and researcher. His work on categorical data informed several of my projects back at the Census Bureau. I fondly remember the warm welcome my family received from Steve and his wife Joyce when we arrived at CMU. I regret I never took the opportunity to collaborate directly on his many fascinating projects, which included a wide range of topics like human rights, Census work, privacy & confidentiality, and forensic science.
Steve’s “Conversations” interview from 2013 contains many nuggets of wisdom on theory vs. practice, success in grad school, life in academia and beyond, etc. There was also a good interview at Statistics Views last year.
He was a pillar of the department and the broader statistical community, and we miss him dearly.