Professor Peter Hall passed away on January 9, 2016. In his passing, the statistical community lost one of its most prolific and creative researchers. We also lost a friend, colleague, and mentor. Peter inspired and mentored many young researchers. His early work in probability profoundly affected his many contributions to theoretical statistics and beyond. It set the course of a research career which saw him tackle problems across a broad frontier with far-reaching impact on much of modern mathematical statistics.

For the past 24 months, we have been working towards the establishment of a Peter Hall Prize within the IMS. Our proposal for such a prize has recently been approved by the IMS Council, with the following council resolution: “IMS Council approves the permanent institution of a Peter Hall Prize to be awarded annually in recognition of early career research accomplishments and the promise in statistics, broadly construed.”

It is now time to raise money for the endowment. We hope you will consider making a generous donation to help set up a permanent IMS Prize in Peter Hall’s name. These donations not only memorialize Peter’s research achievements and outstanding service to the profession, but go to help recognize early career researchers.

There are three different ways you can send your donation:

1 By credit card via the IMS website: https://secure.imstat.org/secure/orders/donations.asp

2 By US dollar check, made payable to “IMS – Peter Hall Endowment Fund.” Mail to: IMS – Peter Hall Endowment Fund, 3163 Somerset Drive, Shaker Heights, OH 44122.

3 By electronic transfer or wire: please email Elyse Gustafson erg@imstat.org for bank transfer details.

For US residents, the donations will be tax-deductible. Per Internal Revenue Code Section 170, a contribution to an IMS Fund is considered a charitable contribution and is tax deductible under US tax laws. We confirm that this donation does not benefit you in any monetary or material fashion.

IMS will invest the fund as they do all of their long-term accounts. It would be helpful if you could let us know the amount of your donation by emailing Jon Wellner, jaw@stat.washington.edu. While this information would assist us in keeping track of progress toward the initial $40,000 goal, offering it is of course completely optional. We look forward to receiving donations from you and thank you very much for your support in advance!

Sincerely yours,

IMS Ad-Hoc Committee for a Peter Hall Award or Prize:

Jon Wellner, Richard Davis, Alison Etheridge, Iain Johnstone, and Xiao-Li Meng, with Honorary Member Jeannie Hall

Obituaries and websites:

https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/biographical-memoirs-1/peter-gavin-hall-1951-2016

https://imstat.org/2016/03/obituary-peter-gavin-hall-1951-2016/

http://peterhallmemorial.ucdavis.edu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gavin_Hall