Sad News
Asher, Jana
To: All Staff
From the Desk of Tommy Wright, Chief, Center for Statistical Research and Methodology . . .
Bill Winkler's Passing
William (Bill) E. Winkler, our widely respected colleague and friend, passed away at INOVA Fairfax Hospital on June 30, 2022, due to illness.
Bill was born in Cincinnati, Ohio; spent time growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan; received a B.S. in mathematics (1968) from Michigan State University; and received a Ph.D. in probability theory (1973) from The Ohio State University. He served as assistant professor in statistics at the University of Pittsburgh (1974–1979); he joined the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Energy Department serving as a mathematical statistician from 1980–1987. In 1987, he joined the Census Bureau's Statistical Research Division (now the Center for Statistical Research and Methodology [CSRM]), where he served for many years as principal researcher and leader of the Record Linkage and Machine Learning Research Group (CSRM) until his retirement in 2019. Since 2009, he was also an affiliated faculty member in computational and data sciences at George Mason University.
Bill was recognized internationally for his collaborative research contributions to record linkage (entity resolution), statistical modeling, editing and imputation, privacy and confidentiality, and multi-purpose and multi-way sampling. In many parts of our Census Bureau daily work, we benefit from his passionate work with colleagues in record linkage using enhanced versions of the software packages Matcher and BigMatch. His name is attached to the related terms "Jaro-Winkler String/Sequence Comparator," "Jaro-Winkler distance," and "Jaro-Winkler similarity." We believe that Bill's work helped trigger a "renaissance" that motivated other researchers to focus on the further development of the probabilistic and statistical theory at the foundations of record linkage. Record linkage methodology is a key to the current and future Census Bureau work as we seek to make greater use of administrative records and other data sources to enhance and create more data products from our censuses and sample surveys.
He was frequently the keynote speaker at conferences (many international), and he authored or co-authored many highly cited papers. He served on numerous expert panels and committees. Bill's professional contributions led to his selection as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (1996).
He led, worked with, and mentored many colleagues and intern graduate students. A knock on Bill’s door or a telephone call to him was always followed by a sincere smile and the response, "How can I help you?" And he did! He favored attention to his work and others rather than to himself.
Bill loved to read everything technical, mathematical, and science fiction. He enjoyed long walks on the beach and an occasional beer on the deck. He enjoyed tennis as a college student and was an avid runner. He ran in the local races in Washington, D.C., especially around the Tidal Basin.
He is survived by his wife of 50 years (Beth), two children (William F. and Stephanie), four grandchildren, and one great grandchild.
The family will have a small memorial celebration of Bill’s life in Norfolk, Virginia. In lieu of flowers, please send a contribution to the SCHAR Cancer Institute at INOVA Fairfax at 8081 Innovation Park Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031.
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Jana Asher (she/her/hers) Associate Professor/Director of Statistics Education Department of Mathematics and Statistics Service-Learning Associate Office for Community-Engaged Learning Slippery Rock University
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Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) Chair, Committee on the History of Statistics, ISI Member, International Association for Statistics Education, ISI Join IASE @ https://iase-web.org/Membership.php |
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