AJanuary 26 1915
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, Friday, March 19, 1999
Julian Keilson; UR prof, statistics whiz
Julian Keilson, a business professor who started the statistics department at the University of Rochester, died March 8 after an extended illness.
He was 74.
Mr. Keilson, a resident of Brighton, joined the business school in 1966 and taught courses in applied probability for more than 30 years. He was considered one of the top researchers in the country in applied probability, publishing 127 papers and two books, Green's Function Methods in Probability Theory and Markov Chain Models —Rarity and Expo-nentiality.
His former students include a dean of a business school in Japan and an associate dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.
“It took a very special student to work with Julian. He was very demanding. The weak need not apply,” said Ronald W. Hansen, associate dean for academic affairs at UR's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration.
Though his students were working toward degrees in management and administration, Mr. Keilson expected them to excel at mathematics.
“He thought all students should be well-versed in proving all the mathematical theorems,” Hansen said.
In his spare time, Mr. Keilson enjoyed chess and was part of a group of professors who huddled in a room at lunchtime to square off against each other.
Mr. Keilson earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Brooklyn College, then received master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University.
He conducted research at Harvard, Lincoln Laboratories, and G.T.E. Laboratories prior to joining the University of Rochester. He was named professor emeritus in 1987.
Mr. Keilson is survived by his wife, Paula; a son, David Keilson of Cary, N.C.; a daughter, Julia Craig of Webster; a brother, Sidney Keilson of Potomac, Md.; a sister, Marcia Harrington of Reno, Nev.; and eight grandchildren. A memorial service in Mr. Keilson's honor will be at 2 p.m. today at the Interfaith Chapel on UR's River Campus.
JAYTOKASZ.
