STATISTICIANS IN HISTORY
Walter F. Willcox:
Statist
William R. Leonard
This is excerpted from the article “Walter F.
Willcox: Statist,” which first appeared in The
American Statistician in February of 1961.
I
n the opening words of his
preface to Studies in American
Demography, published in
1940, Walter Willcox said,
“During the last half century,
demography, or the statistical
study of population, has grown
from infancy into lusty youth.”
During the same half century,
Willcox published what he called
“fragments” of an Introduction to
American Demography, but found

himself handicapped by the then William R. Leonard, president of
“
I have long agreed with recent
inadequacies of American birth the ASA in 1957, was Willcox’s
and death statistics. Nevertheless, statistical assistant and one of
statements that ‘except for
he pursued his goal and pub-
his last graduate students at
statistics … no new tech -
lished more than 100 of his
Cornell university.
“more important writings.” These
nique for studying social appeared as monographs and in
problems has been devel-
official government publications,
professional journals, encyclope-
oped in modern times.
”
’
dias, and books.
All these investigations were
extremely valuable, illuminating
for the first time many diverse
problems of American soci-
ety. In his Studies in American
Demography, Willcox wrote, “I
SEPTEMbER 2009 AMSTAT NEwS 23
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