Obituary
personal skills were to later become major
assets in communicating and collaborating-
Jorge Pinal with medical investigators at the University
Jorge Pinal died January 13, 2008, at the
of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
home of his sister, Alice Del Pinal, in San
Young graduated with a PhD in
Francisco, California.
biometrics from the University of Colorado
Pinal grew up in Guatemala and immi-
Health Sciences Center in 1992, after hav-
grated to the United States as a teenager. He
ing been acknowledged by his biometrics
earned his PhD in sociology and demog-
faculty and the graduate school with the
Strother Walker Award for outstanding
raphy from UC Berkeley, making him one
PhD student and a Merit Fellowship.
of the first Hispanics with a doctorate in
He joined the faculty of the Department
the social sciences. He conducted ground-
of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at
breaking research on the meaning and use of
the University of Colorado Health Sciences
Hispanic and other ethnicity data at the U.S.
Center in 1992 as an assistant professor
Census Bureau and in the federal statistical
and was promoted to associate professor in
system since the 1980 census. Pinal was one
1999, a position he held until deteriorating
of the first Hispanic assistant division chiefs
health forced him to retire in 2005. Young
at the bureau.
passed away during the night of Tuesday,
Pinal was vice-chair of the ASA’s
December 4. He is survived by a brother
Committee on Minorities in Statistics. His
and innumerable friends.
kindness, humor, intelligence, and generos-
During his brief, but colorful career,
ity of spirit will be remembered by many.
Young did everything a health sciences
In lieu of flowers or other gifts, consider
center statistician was supposed to do.
contributing to Finca International (www.
He covered most of his salary with grant
villagebanking.org), an organization that
money; he collaborated with many medi-
provides small loans to poor individuals liv-
cal investigators resulting in many peer-
ing in developing countries.
reviewed manuscripts; he presented papers
at national and international conferences;
he reviewed manuscripts and books; he
Obituary taught and developed graduate-level cours-
David Young
es; he mentored students; and he partici-
pated in innumerable local, national, and
Submitted by Gary O. Zerbe
international committees.
The Department of
But, unlike most of us, he always did it
Preventive Medicine
with a smile that was an inspiration to all.
and Biometrics of the
His research interests were functional-
University of Colorado
form and change point regression models;
Denver Health Sciences
maximum likelihood, bootstrap, and likeli-
Center; the Colorado
hood profile approaches to simultaneous
Wyoming Chapter of
inference in linear and nonlinear mixed-
the American Statistical
effects models; and use of mixed models and
Association; and the
best linear unbiased predictors as measures
many friends, students,
Young
of correlation between behavioral and physi-
and colleagues of David Albin Young wish to
ological processes of aging and development.
mourn his death and celebrate his life.
Young was probably most proud
Young was no ordinary statistician. At
of some of his lighter publications,
19, he was left paralyzed when he ran his
such as his poem, “The Unbearable
1965 Chevy Impala into a tree and broke his
Likelihood of EM.” He was well known
neck. He was on his way to deliver a speech
for articles by him and about him in New
as salutorian at Newton Jr. College in the
Mobility Magazine, for which he was a con-
graduating class of 1975. A quadriplegic,
tributing editor.
highly dependent on an electric wheel chair,
His hobbies were writing, bi-skiing,
a mouth stick, and computers, Young pro-
film, music, skydiving, and earnest conver-
ceeded to graduate magna cum laude with
sation. Young was a pleasure to work with.
a BA from the University of Massachusetts
He was witty and enjoyed life, including
in 1979. He studied graduate-level physi-
dancing in a wheel chair, attending foot-
ology at Harvard Medical School and the
ball games, and drinking with friends. His
University of Colorado Medical School, cul-
antics have been noted by the local news
minating in an MS in 1985. His knowledge
media and written up in Time: “The best
of physiology and excellent blend of inter-
part is I can do it all.” ■
30 AMSTAT NEWS FEBRUARY 2008
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