Donald Andrew Gardiner died peacefully at home on Saturday, August 23.

Born February 2, 1922, in Buffalo, New York, he attended public schools in that city and subsequently received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Buffalo. Upon graduation from college, he entered Midshipman’s School, and after completion of his training, was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy. Before deployment overseas, he married the love of his life, Marie Tropman, to whom he was married for 59 years, until her death in 2003.

During the war, Don served as skipper of an ARB (Air-Sea Rescue Boat) in the Adriatic and Mediterranean. He was recalled during the Korean War and served as regimental commander at the Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Marylan. He later served in the Naval Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant commander in 1956. Though he rarely spoke of it until his later years, he was justifiably proud of his naval service, and he was the recipient of a number of medals and commendations.

In 1956, after receiving his doctorate in statistics, Don, Marie, and their three young children moved to Oak Ridge. Don worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, eventually becoming director of statistics and mathematics research at ORNL. He retired from that position in 1986. He was a longtime adjunct professor of mathematics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He was a fellow of the America Statistical Association, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, chairman of the Committee on Statistics of the Southern Regional Education Board, and editor of “Technometrics,” a journal for scientists and mathematicians. [Read more…]