Donald Watts, professor emeritus, Queen’s University, passed away peacefully in Vernon, British Columbia, at age 92. 

Donald received a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics (1956) and a master’s degree in electrical engineering (1958) from the University of British Columbia, and a PhD in electrical engineering (1962) from the University of London. He was the author of 51 refereed journal papers, coauthor with G. M. Jenkins of Spectral Analysis and its Applications (1968), editor of The Future of Statistics (1968), and coauthor with D. Bates of Nonlinear Regression Analysis and its Applications (1988). He was professor of statistics at the University of Wisconsin 1964–1970 and at Queen’s University 1970–1993. He was a gifted teacher, supervising 21 master’s and PhD students at Queen’s University and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was deeply involved in the formation of the Statistical Society of Canada in 1977 and served as president in 1978. For his numerous contributions to this Society, he was awarded an honorary membership in 1997 and was a corecipient of the Founder Recognition Award in 1998. He was also elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1978.

Donald was an avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, who enjoyed camping, biking, and hiking in various provinces and states.  He enjoyed his travels with his family to London, Paris, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. He was passionate about collecting North American Indian baskets and artwork. In later years, he enjoyed golf and reading about evolution. And he loved telling a good joke, especially as a part of his statistics classes.

He will be dearly missed by all of his family, friends, and former students.