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Robert J. Beaver
In Memoriam

Robert J. Beaver

Professor of Statistics, Emeritus

UC Riverside
1937-2019
Robert (Bob) Beaver was an incredibly active and valued member of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Statistics for 35 years. He earned his BS from Bloomsburg State Teachers College which is now Bloomsburg University in 1959, and taught junior high school science and mathematics for several years in Middleburg, Pennsylvania. Bob’s BS degree was in secondary education, thereby laying the foundation for his strong commitment to teaching. He received his MS in Mathematics from Bucknell University in 1964, and a second MS (1966) and PhD (1970) in Statistics with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Florida. 

Upon graduation, Bob joined UCR in 1970 as an Assistant Professor in the newly formed Department of Statistics chaired by F. N. David, and an Experimental Station Statistician (67% I&R and 33% OR).  Bob spent his entire career as a Statistics Professor and Statistician at UCR. He lived with his family within a short walking distance from the campus. After 35 years at UCR, he became Professor Emeritus and Statistician in 2005 but continued to live with his family at their very close-to-campus home. Just prior to his retirement, the Statistics Department created the Robert Beaver Outstanding Statistical Consulting Award, given to a student who personifies Bob’s care for interdisciplinary work in statistics.

Bob will be remembered in the statistics profession for his many research contributions in paired comparison experiments including the handling of tied observations and possible order effects associated with treatments. His joint research with UCR Distinguished Statistics Professor Barry C. Arnold on Hidden Truncation Models, Skewed Univariate and Multivariate Distributions with Applications, and Rank Set Sampling made a huge impact in advancing the field. Furthermore, Bob’s joint research with Professor J.N. Srivastava in demonstrating the superiority of the nested multi-dimensional block design relative to the classical incomplete block designs, made a striking impact in the field.

As a statistician of the UCR agricultural experimental station, Bob interacted with the numerous researchers and faculty members in the Departments of Entomology, Nematology, Plant Pathology, Botany and Plant Sciences, Biology, and Biochemistry. The presence of Bob in these research projects made the work statistically insightful and contributed to it having a strong impact and published in top professional journals in their respective fields. Bob was also a gifted classroom instructor, teaching experimental design classes for CNAS students at the undergraduate level, and statistical theory courses for graduate students. He received the 1983-84 UCR Graduate Student Association Distinguished Teaching Award.

Bob’s impact on science extended well beyond UCR. He was a bestselling author of several introductory statistics text books written jointly with W. Mendenhall and Barbara Beaver. His book, Introduction to Probability and Statistics (Mendenhall/Beaver/Beaver), is now in its 15th edition.

Bob was born March 27, 1937 in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, and he died on August 13, 2019.  He is survived by wife, Barbara, of 49 years, daughter Krista and her husband Steven, son David and his wife Casey, and four grandchildren.

Written by Faculty in the Department of Statistics, UCR, with minor editorial changes by Thomas Perring.