Stanley Nash, 1915-2001

Since his retirement in 1983, Stan Nash has been a Professor Emeritus of Statistics at the University of British Columbia. However, his retirement was more formal than substantial in nature and his long, active, and distinguished statistical career is very much ongoing.

Professor Nash was born in the Yakima Valley of Washington State. His undergraduate work was done at the College of Puget Sound (now the University of Puget Sound) in Tacoma, Washington.

ln 1940 he began his study of statistics at the newly founded Statistical Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. However, his studies were interrupted for four years (1942-1946) by World War II.

For the last 42 months of the 47 months Dr. Nash spent in civilian alternative service, he was assigned to assist the Forest Service’s plant ecologist at the San Joaquin Experimental Range in the Sierra foothills. He regards this as a very fortunate assignment. His view of statistics was very much coloured by his experiences there. The work included carrying out a number of sampling studies of range forage, everything from planning them, laying them out in the field, collecting field observations during the growing season, sorting out the clipped sample from each plot into its component species, and finally summarizing and analyzing the observed data. The work evidently was extremely challenging from a statistical point of view. The forage of a foot square clipped plot often contained 20 or more species!

Dr. Nash received his PhD in 1950 and then joined the Mathematics Department at the University of British Columbia. In reviewing the correspondence associated with Dr. Nash’s appointment, I was interested to learn that his PhD thesis consisted of two parts, one on the theory of experimentation and the other on the theory of probability. The latter was about the law of the iterated logarithm for dependent random variables and reveals a remarkable breadth of interest.

The Head of Mathematics at the time was Ralph James. Neyman’s letter of reference begins "My dear James, … must you call me ‘Dr.’?” On the basis of strong letters from such distinguished Berkeley faculty as Jerzy Neyman and Michel Loève, Stan Nash was offered a position at a princely 1950/51 annual salary which would be just slightly more than a beginning Assistant Professor’s 1987/88 monthly salary. Not only that, but Ralph James goes on to assure Stan that the “… housing problem is not too bad for a single person, and for married people the University has accommodation in converted army huts which are comfortable, though certainly not luxurious.” Readers who know UBC at all will know that these huts have been on campus ever since! However, they are no longer offered as accommodation to beginning faculty.

When I joined the Department in 1967, Dr. Nash was the only statistician at UBC. He had in consequence built up an enormous statistical consulting clientele. He must be an extremely effective consultant; I have found that a great many of his clients are completely unwilling to talk to any other statistician about their statistical problems. In fact, although we have had, at the University of British Columbia, a formally organized statistical consulting service since 1971, there are still clients coming to see me as Head of the Statistics Department demanding an appointment with Dr. Nash. This enthusiasm and loyalty is a reflection of the great depth of Professor Nash’s advice, based as it is upon his broad scientific, practical and theoretical background in statistics.

I recall being impressed as well on my arrival at UBC with the splendid personal library of statistical books which Dr. Nash had collected by that time. It was still possible then, but only just, to acquire every statistics book that was published, except possibly for the most elementary textbooks on the subject. And Stan had done just that. Consequently, all the walls in his office were lined floor to ceiling with completely filled bookshelves, and tables in his office were piled high with recent acquisitions. Dr. Nash could usually be found in one corner of his office analyzing a client’s data on an electric desk top calculator.

ln addition to his intensive involvement in statistical consulting, Professor Nash has been heavily involved in the education of graduate students at the University. He has supervised three PhD students and numerous candidates for master’s degrees. As well he served on a large number of PhD committees for candidates in other departments and faculties such as Forestry and Psychology, for example. His work at the University of British Columbia was interrupted by a year’s leave in 1960/61 for a visit to the statistical laboratory at Iowa State University in Ames. Stan took leave again in 1976/78 for a visit to Germany.

Professor Nash was very much a pioneer in the development of statistics and was one of a handful of individuals who helped to build up the subject in Canada. His role in the development of statistics was recognized by his election in 1966, to the Presidency of the Western North American Region of the Biometric Society. In addition, he served two terms on the Board of the Statistical Science Association of Canada, one of the predecessors of the SSC. During his involvement with the SSAC, he had an influential role in the development which ultimately led to the formation of the Statistical Society of Canada.

Professor Nash retains his very broad interest in the statistical sciences. He is an avid reader of journals not only in statistics proper but in substantive areas as well. He is regularly consulted about statistical problems, and he is readily able to provide appropriate references from the vast literature covered by his reading. He is greatly valued as a long-standing member of the Canadian statistical community, as a stimulating and learned colleague, and as a friend.

James V. Zidek, 1987