by Yannis Yatracos
I came to meet David Blackwell in the 1978–1979 academic year, when I commenced my graduate work in statistics at UC Berkeley. I found him to be a very warm individual, exhibiting a positive attitude toward all students, and in particular newcomers. He made himself available to answer all kinds of questions regardless of time. During my stay at Berkeley, I had the opportunity to hold several discussions with him about the subject of statistics and the profession, the department there, academic careers, and life outside academia. He was always straightforward, informative, helpful, and generous in sharing his vast knowledge and experiences. In social and student-related issues and in departmental issues shared with students, he was in general more liberal than most of his colleagues, usually in agreement with Lucien Le Cam. Here is a token of remembrance of some instances of personal interaction with him. As a member of my Ph.D. thesis committee, he provided in my mailbox the solution to one of the questions I had asked him about related references. With regard to the potential employment of undergraduates as teaching assistants in statistics courses, the Statistics Graduate Students Association (SGSA), expressing serious concerns, created an ad hoc committee to handle the issue. I also participated, and a meeting of the ombudsman was arranged with the entire department. Professor Blackwell unequivocally stated to the ad hoc committee that the department had a financial obligation toward Ph.D. students until completion of the degree and that this obligation should be addressed. In 1983, before my graduation, I had an extensive discussion with him about the various models of academic careers and, not to my surprise, he supported the British model. At that time faculty ranks in the British universities were lecturer, senior lecturer, reader, and professor. Lecturers became permanent after a probationary period that normally required no more than three years. Promotion to senior lecturer was often based on prowess in teaching and administration. Promotion to reader was based on achievements in research and would usually precede promotion to professor. In a more recent email contact with him in June 2008, I sent a greeting note with some of my papers that he might be interested in. He replied immediately with kind and warm words, as he always did during the last thirty years. Berkeley students who came to know Professor David Blackwell will always remember him as the generous, kind, and warm person he was; he will be greatly missed.
