Wynn Abranovic was born in a hospital outside Pittsburg on February 28, 1941. His father, Anthony, a Croatian, who had emigrated to the US at a young age, was serving in the US army when his first child arrived. Wynn’s mother, Mary Stich Abranovic, was living at the time with her parents, also Croatian, in Clairton, PA, where Wynn spent his early childhood. A few years after his father’s return from the war, the Abranovic family moved to Kittanning, PA, where his parents had purchased a wholesale magazine and book business. Wynn completed his elementary and high school education in Kittanning, while also pitching in at the warehouse and roaming with his brother Al the hillsides bordering the Allegheny River.

Wynn attended college in Troy, New York, earning his undergraduate degree in engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He went on to earn his PhD also at RPI, writing a dissertation on statistics. (When asked once why he concentrated on statistics and not some branch of engineering, he retorted that statistics was the hardest subject he had ever tackled, and he was hooked.) Following the receipt of his doctorate, Wynn moved to Seattle, where he worked as an engineer at Boeing. He soon returned to academe, taking up a position at Willamette University and moving to Oregon with his then wife Patricia Mueller.

Wynn found his life-long academic and personal home, however, when he accepted a position in the Department of Finance and Operations Management at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He stayed at UMass until his retirement. A devoted teacher, who appreciated that statistics could be a punishing slog, he dedicated himself to making that discipline more accessible. This was the overarching aim of his groundbreaking textbook: Statistical Thinking and Data Analysis Methods for Managers (1997). The opening sentence of the blurb introducing the massive tome reads: “Statistics can’t be over-simplified but it can be clarified and made fun to learn”.

Wynn knew well that a statistical problem could become a sinkhole. He’d often disappear mentally for days in pursuit of a solution. His protection against being drowned by numbers was the buoyant fun he got from sports. (He’d been a champion wrestler in high school.) He was a frequent figure on the now defunct Amherst College clay tennis courts, where he not only honed his game but his wit. Athletics also brought out the dare devil in him, for instance roller blading up and over, trudging up and then flying down, the notch in the Holyoke Range, or bump skiing in Killington on slick spring snow. Perhaps his most cherished outdoor pastime, however, one he often enjoyed with his brother Tony, was fly fishing, especially on the Deerfield River, casting and recasting, wading far into the dusk of a summer night just below Stillwater Bridge.

Wynn courageously fought Parkinson’s disease for nearly two decades. He brought to that battle knowledge he’d gained from statistics and sports. Typically, he would calculate the odds but play each point as it came, maintaining throughout the meditative calm he’d found on the Deerfield. He leaves behind a large extended family: his much-loved siblings, four brothers (Al, Mark, Tony and Paul) and one sister (Ellie); his niece (Attie) and nephews (Abe, Aus, Andrew, and Ryan, his godson); and his sisters-in-law (Linda and Jeanine). Finally, he leaves behind his beloved wife, Peggy O’Brien and the simple but rich life they enjoyed for twenty-five years in Amherst. Peggy’s entire family, all of whom live in Ireland, deeply mourn the loss of Wynn: her sister (Christine Leckey); her daughter (Kristen Kennelly); and her granddaughters (Meg, Hannah and Gracie Murphy). Tellingly, each of Peggy’s granddaughters considered sweet, strong Wynn to be their grandfather. Wynn died in north Amherst on October 7^th in the Fisher Home, where he received the utmost in professional and compassionate care. The entire family is thankful.