Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2021 16:39:09 -0500
From: David Berengut
    

It's interesting to read how varied people's takes are on their OHS experience.
For me, it was overall a positive experience. Math was my best, and favorite,
subject, so I found Russell's passion for the subject to be inspiring. It was
also fun to be around such a group of bright and witty classmates. So at McGill,
Honours Math was a natural choice. However, I wasn't sure how I would make a
career out of it (my father wanted me to become an actuary.) In my third year, I
discovered probability and statistics, and a great prof, Michael Stephens. He
was a transplanted Englishman, very urbane but from working-class roots, who
took a great interest in his students, going out with us to taverns and inviting
us home for dinner where his French (not French-Canadian) wife cooked these
great meals. So after getting my B.Sc., I stayed another year to get a Masters
in statistics, with Stephens supervising my Masters thesis.

With a recommendation from Stephens, who had a connection there, I managed to
get into the Ph.D. program in Statistics at Stanford. Unlike in Math, where the
Ivies ruled, in Statistics it was Berkeley and Stanford who were considered the
twin peaks. It was an honor and privilege to be in the company of some of the
greats in the field. I also enjoyed being in the Bay area, with its great
weather, laid-back atmosphere (Silicon Valley was just in its infancy),
beautiful scenery, and proximity to San Francisco and Berkeley. It was also
where I first discovered the pleasures of wine, which has continued to this day.
And where I began to grow the beard that remains to this day (my kids complain
that they've never seen my face!) Also where, finally out of my parents' house,
I learned to be on my own and not to be afraid of girls! On a side note, in my
first year there, I shared an apartment with Marcel Just, whom some of you may
know, who was doing a Ph.D. in Psychology.

Coming out of Stanford's strong theoretical program, it was a given that you
would move into academia, which I did, managing to snag an Assistant
Professorship at Harvard. This was a mixed blessing, as there was no hope for
tenure there. But I did get to enjoy 5 years absorbing the fascinating stew that
is Boston and Cambridge. Also, in retrospect, I feel fortunate to have been able
to watch, at close range, the incomparable Bobby Orr in his prime. And it was
here where I met and married my first wife Paula, and where my daughter Sarah
was born.

From Cambridge, we moved to Binghamton, New York, where I took a faculty
position in the Department of Mathematical Sciences. It was a great place to
raise a family (my son Josh was born there in 82), and had a surprisingly good
cultural scene, including a regional opera some of whose alumni ended up at the
Met. But as one of a small cadre of statisticians within a department of mostly
pure mathematicians, we were treated as second-class citizens, whose main value
was to bring up the class numbers for the department. I also became increasingly
frustrated with the level of internal politics that went on. So when an
opportunity arose to become involved with a newly-created research center within
the university devoted to working with local industry developing quality
improvement programs, I jumped at the chance. It felt like a way to apply my
statistical expertise to practical problems, which was where my interest was
moving. During this period of the mid-80s, American industry was beginning to
recognize that the Japanese were cleaning their clock quality-wise, using as
their guru the American statistician Deming. So we had some good success
consulting and developing training programs for companies like IBM, GE, and
DuPont. It was rewarding to be teaching adult students who actually were
interested in learning and using the material, instead of snot-nosed undergrads
who were in class just to meet a requirement or get a good grade.

Realizing that my interests had evolved from academia to applying my skills to
practical problems, and concerned about the long-term stability and viability of
the SUNY research center, in 1986 I jumped at an offer to move to Wilmington, DE
to join DuPont's Applied Statistics Group, an internal quality and statistics
consulting group, consisting of about 20 statisticians, that worked with all of
DuPont's businesses. The stats group was considered at the time, along with
similar groups at Bell Labs and GE, as one of the foremost industrial statistics
groups in the world. It had an intellectual heft that was the equal of many
university departments. Each member functioned as an independent entrepreneur,
assigned to work with a specific set of businesses and functions within the
company. But there were also group efforts, such as developing training programs
in subjects like Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Design of Experiments
(DOE). Our DOE course, called Strategy of Experimentation, became an industry
standard, and was taught to thousands of students, both internally and
externally.

Over the course of the next 23 years, our group evolved as the company went
through various reorganizations and downsizings. The group got smaller and the
nature of the work changed as well, ultimately in a direction that I found less
satisfying or stimulating, so that by the last 3 or 4 years I started looking
forward to retiring, which I finally did at the end of 09.

On the personal front, my marriage to Paula ended in a rather acrimonious
divorce in 1990. In 1997, I met Anne Singer, who would become my current wife a
few years later. Anne is an attorney, still practicing in a solo practice, doing
commercial litigation and criminal defense. She also has 2 children from a first
marriage, Laurel (lawyer) and Karyn (doctor). My daughter Sarah is married to
Jamie O'Grady, with 2 kids, Jack (10) and Gemma (6), and they live in Cary, NC.
My son Josh is married to Alexandria, no kids yet. They live in Raleigh, NC.

Besides spending time with our kids and grandkids, Anne and I love to travel,
trying to take 2 major trips every year. We've been to many different countries,
but our favorites are Italy and France. We can't wait for this pandemic to end
so we can travel again. Living in Cherry Hill, NJ, which is only 20 minutes
drive from Center City Philadelphia, we enjoy the cultural riches of the city,
particularly the excellent theatre (we usually subscribe to 3 theatre companies)
and the museums. Also great restaurants --- hoping they survive!

We used to enjoy skiing in Vermont with our kids, but this hasn't happened for a
while. I've recently gotten into playing pickleball, which I enjoy a lot, but
covid has put a crimp in that. I spend a great deal of time reading, am somewhat
compulsive about getting through the New York Times. Would like to get more
serious about doing genealogical research on my family, which I've dabbled in
over the years. I had also been dabbling over the years in researching our OHS
class, and put together a spreadsheet of my findings, but never pursued it
beyond that, until my recent hookup with Paul Coates, through the Classmates
site, which resulted in his contacting Cooperberg and Evelyn Lazare, and the
subsequent outpouring of interest.

Well, this is probably more than a page. Hope I don't get penalized.

David Berengut