Prof. Emeritus Julian Keilson dies at 74

Keilson was a 30-year veteran of the Simon School

Keilson

J ulian Keilson, professor emeritus of business administration at the Simon School and of statistics at the College, died on March 8 after an extended illness. He was 74.

A graduate of Brooklyn College with a B.S. in physics, Keilson earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard University. He joined the business school at the University in 1966 and for over 30 years taught courses in applied probability. His research interests included the areas of probability theory, queuing theory, stochastic processes, telecommunications, and performance analysis for computer systems.

"Julian Keilson was a highly valued and respected member of the Simon School community," said Ronald Hansen, associate dean for academic affairs at the school. "In addition to being one of the top publishers in applied probability, he taught several generations of Ph.D. students who are themselves making a substantial impact on the profession."

Keilson's sustained research productivity, which earned him international recognition, gave rise to over 127 papers and two books: Green's Function Methods in Probability Theory and Markov Chain Models--Rarity and Exponentiality. This spring Kluwer Academic Publishers will release Advances in Applied Probability and Stochastic Processes, which is dedicated to Keilson and his work in various areas, including applied probability, stochastic processes, and computational probability.

Prior to joining the University Keilson conducted research at Harvard, Lincoln Laboratories, and GTE Laboratories. He also served as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham in England and as a senior scientist at Sylvania Applied Research Laboratory. In recent years he had spent time at MIT as an adjunct professor at the Sloan School of Management, and at GTE Laboratories as a senior scientist.

Keilson founded the journal Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, and had served as associate editor of Advances in Applied Probability and Operations Research. He was a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and was active in the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

He 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.