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When Jack Kiefer died in August, 1981, of a sudden heart attack, he had been at Berkeley for only three years. However, during this short time, he had established himself as a central figure of the Department of Statistics. He had, for example, served as its Vice Chair, and had become a regular, highly successful instructor in a large lower division course. At the time of his death, he was supervising six Ph.D. students.
Professor Kiefer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his B.S. in Economics (after a three-year leave of absence during the Second World War to serve as 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force) and the M.S. in Economics and Engineering, both at MIT in 1948. He continued his studies at Columbia under Abraham Wald and Jacob Wolfowitz, and received the Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics in 1952. After Wald's death in 1951, he followed Wolfowitz to the Cornell Mathematics Department where he remained for the next eighteen years, being elected the first Horace White Professor in 1971.
Professor Kiefer's research interests ranged widely over the whole area of mathematical statistics, but nearly half of his over 100 publications dealt with the optimal design of experiments, a field in which he was the internationally recognized leader. Sequential analysis was another area to which he made many fundamental contributions. Most recently, in an important series of papers, he had begun to grapple with the basic problems of conditional inference, opening up exciting new possibilities without as yet having reached any definitive conclusions. His collected works soon will be published by Springer-Verlag.
His work brought him many honors. During 1962-63, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1962, he gave the Wald lectures of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, which he served as its President in 1969-70. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972 and three years later to the National Academy of Sciences. During 1976-79 he served on the National Academy's Committee on Science and Public Policy. He made many essential contributions to studies with a strong statistical component undertaken by this committee. His comments on diverse matters before the committee were always constructive and insightful.
In 1980, Jack Kiefer was one of four faculty members selected to initiate the University's China Exchange Program and traveled there with William Bouwsma. For the year 1981-82 he had been appointed to a Miller Research Professorship.
Jack Kiefer's many interests included politics, sports, the theatre, and music. He ran for the New York State Assembly in 1968. He followed professional sports ardently. As a student he considered careers both in show business and as a pianist. However, his most abiding outside interest was mycology, where his knowledge was professional. His excitement at finding a field of morels in the Sierra was unbounded.
He was central to the activities of the Statistics Department and his advice was greatly valued. Students, both graduate and undergraduate, were always in his office, as were the many visitors his presence lured to Berkeley. His 1979 Commencement Address to the graduating statisticians, on "Theometrics," will long be remembered for its uproarious content and the way in which it was delivered.
Jack Kiefer was a gentle man with a great capacity for love and friendship; this was combined, however, with a fierce and sometimes combative determination to uphold the exacting standards he demanded of others, but especially of himself. Three sessions in his memory have been organized by his many friends: at the annual meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in Cincinnati (August, 1982); at Cornell (July, 1983); and at Berkeley preceding the Cornell meeting.
He is survived by his wife, Dooley S. Kiefer; a son, Daniel; a daughter, Sarah, all of Ithaca, New York; and his mother, Mrs. Carl J. Kiefer of Cincinnati.
E. L. Lehmann
D. R. Brillinger
I. M. Singer
Professor Kiefer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his B.S. in Economics (after a three-year leave of absence during the Second World War to serve as 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force) and the M.S. in Economics and Engineering, both at MIT in 1948. He continued his studies at Columbia under Abraham Wald and Jacob Wolfowitz, and received the Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics in 1952. After Wald's death in 1951, he followed Wolfowitz to the Cornell Mathematics Department where he remained for the next eighteen years, being elected the first Horace White Professor in 1971.
Professor Kiefer's research interests ranged widely over the whole area of mathematical statistics, but nearly half of his over 100 publications dealt with the optimal design of experiments, a field in which he was the internationally recognized leader. Sequential analysis was another area to which he made many fundamental contributions. Most recently, in an important series of papers, he had begun to grapple with the basic problems of conditional inference, opening up exciting new possibilities without as yet having reached any definitive conclusions. His collected works soon will be published by Springer-Verlag.
His work brought him many honors. During 1962-63, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1962, he gave the Wald lectures of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, which he served as its President in 1969-70. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972 and three years later to the National Academy of Sciences. During 1976-79 he served on the National Academy's Committee on Science and Public Policy. He made many essential contributions to studies with a strong statistical component undertaken by this committee. His comments on diverse matters before the committee were always constructive and insightful.
In 1980, Jack Kiefer was one of four faculty members selected to initiate the University's China Exchange Program and traveled there with William Bouwsma. For the year 1981-82 he had been appointed to a Miller Research Professorship.
Jack Kiefer's many interests included politics, sports, the theatre, and music. He ran for the New York State Assembly in 1968. He followed professional sports ardently. As a student he considered careers both in show business and as a pianist. However, his most abiding outside interest was mycology, where his knowledge was professional. His excitement at finding a field of morels in the Sierra was unbounded.
He was central to the activities of the Statistics Department and his advice was greatly valued. Students, both graduate and undergraduate, were always in his office, as were the many visitors his presence lured to Berkeley. His 1979 Commencement Address to the graduating statisticians, on "Theometrics," will long be remembered for its uproarious content and the way in which it was delivered.
Jack Kiefer was a gentle man with a great capacity for love and friendship; this was combined, however, with a fierce and sometimes combative determination to uphold the exacting standards he demanded of others, but especially of himself. Three sessions in his memory have been organized by his many friends: at the annual meeting of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in Cincinnati (August, 1982); at Cornell (July, 1983); and at Berkeley preceding the Cornell meeting.
He is survived by his wife, Dooley S. Kiefer; a son, Daniel; a daughter, Sarah, all of Ithaca, New York; and his mother, Mrs. Carl J. Kiefer of Cincinnati.
E. L. Lehmann
D. R. Brillinger
I. M. Singer
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