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In Memoriam: Neville E. O'Reilly
Dr. Neville E. O'Reilly, a beloved husband, educator, and mentor, passed away on September 22, 2021, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Neville was born in Durban, South Africa where he obtained his undergraduate degree first in legal studies and then a second undergraduate degree in applied mathematics in which he excelled. Upon graduation, he became a practicing attorney and engaged in defending a prominent anti-apartheid activist, which did not make Neville popular with the existing government. Following this case, Neville’s parents encouraged him to leave South Africa to pursue his passion for mathematics and statistics. He won a full scholarship from Columbia University where he obtained his PhD in Mathematical Statistics and Probability under the supervision of the prominent statistician Herbert Ellis Robbins. Upon completing his degree, Neville joined the faculty of the Department of Statistics at Rutgers before moving to the business world where he held senior positions at AT&T, Netspeak, Dialect Solutions and Equitrac in finance, strategic planning, business operations as well as in product development, management, and marketing.
After a long career in business working on several continents, Neville came back to Rutgers in 2012 to become the Associate Director of the newly launched MS degree program in Financial Statistics and Risk Management (FSRM), one of two professional programs that he would help build in the Department of Statistics. The FSRM program was a unique offering at the time and Neville played a vital role in its development and success. He again played a vital role in 2016 when the MS degree program in Data Science was launched, for which he also served as Associate Director.
In Memoriam: Arthur Cohen
Arthur Cohen, a brilliant applied and mathematical statistician and a wonderful colleague and leader, passed away on July 26, 2021.
Arthur spent his professional career at Rutgers, from 1963 until he traded his title of Distinguished Professor for Emeritus in 2017. A world-renowned leader in decision theory, he was known in the research world for blending dynamic applied statistical expertise with rigorous and creative mathematical skills. Among his colleagues he was also revered for his integrity, geniality, incisiveness, and an unending passion for statistics.
Arthur was born in 1933 and later attended Brooklyn College, where he was captain of the basketball team. One professor there suggested that Arthur might try graduate school in statistics at Columbia University, to which he could commute from home. That bit of serendipity launched his career. Arthur interrupted his graduate studies to spend two years with the Epidemiology Intelligence Service, in what was then the Communicable Disease Center (CDC), as a "disease detective". After returning to Columbia, Arthur wrote a dissertation under Ted Anderson involving admissible estimators, a major topic over his career.
MS Data Science Program
MS Data Science (Statistics Track). The Department of Statistics and Biostatistics is pleased to offer this new master's in Data Science program.
