S⊘ren Bisgaard, the long-time Editor of this section, passed away on December 14, 2009, at the age of fifty-eight. Ronald Does and Jeroen de Mast wrote a beautiful obituary for S⊘ren that can be found at http://www.enbis.org/about/history/soren_obituary?_ts=10186. This tribute summarizes S⊘ren's many contributions to the fields of statistics and quality engineering.
As I write this column, I am in the airport headed to Amherst for S⊘ren's memorial service. I knew S⊘ren for many years. At first, we were simply professional colleagues who shared common interests. We worked closely at the Journal of Quality Technology when I was its editor. When I became Chair of the ASQ Publications Management Board, S⊘ren was one of the first people I recruited to serve.
Over the years, we truly became very good friends who shared similar passions for the fields of statistics and quality engineering. We both believed that the focus of our profession should not be on arcane research but upon the quality practitioner and his or her problems. We both believed that when faced with making a decision, it is always better to do the right thing rather than the easy or popular thing, even if doing the right thing means real personal consequences. Both of us have suffered from many knives in our backs as a result of decisions that we needed to make for the good of the profession. There are not many people in this world who are truly willing to take hits for making the right decision. We have lost one of those people, and our profession is less for it.
S⊘ren made many contributions to the profession and to Quality Engineering. Ronald's and Jeroen's tribute outline many of them. I would like to point out my personal highlights.
S⊘ren was instrumental in founding the European Network for Business and Industrial Statistics (ENBIS) ten years ago. S⊘ren recognized the need for the people who are actively involved in industrial statistics to interact. Industrial statisticians are much more isolated in Europe than in North America. S⊘ren saw the need for the creation of an appropriate organization to address this need. It succeeded extremely well.
S⊘ren made many important contributions to our journal. He won the 1995 and 2008 Brumbaugh Award for the paper published in an ASQ journal that made the greatest contribution to quality control with his paper in Quality Engineering. He coauthored the “Quality Quandaries” columns with George Box and then succeeded Professor Box as the editor. He served a very important role supporting the journal on the ASQ Publications Management Board. Finally, he was a key member of the QE Advisory Board.
We have lost one of the most important people in our profession far too early. I have lost a trusted friend and ally. The best way for us to honor his memory is to continue his passion for the profession and to serve the quality practitioner.