Three (Practically) Significant Events

Dear Aya,
One last posting from me:
It is no coincidence that the conference in your honor on Nov 5 creates a sequence of three days with exceptionally meaningful events. Between the US elections (Nov 4) and the coronation of the 5th King of Bhutan (Nov 6), your own students, colleagues, and friends are celebrating your lifetime career.

Like the two other events, Nov 5 tells us about the past but is future-looking. The many postings in this blog tell the story. I am one of the lucky ones who has received your continuing professional and personal guidance and friendship, and for that I am endlessly thankful.

Love,
Galit

From Naomi Feigin

Aya,

Whereas many of the students and colleagues writing this blog are farewelling you, I have the good fortune to know that our meetings will continue for as long as we both need a friend. I will call, come, drink tea and eat cake sitting in your beautiful, tasteful and modest home happy to have such a loving and faithful friend who cares about me, my girls, my work and my opinions. Aya, I wish us both the health and strength to support each other through thick and thin as we have done up until now. The appreciation being showered upon you by so many whom you have taught and befriended is modest compared to the knowledge, friendship and care you have bestowed upon us. Thank you.

Love

Naomi

Thanks for your precision

The gap between theory and empirical reality is nowhere more apparent than in the social sciences, where in the fields of human resources, organizational behavior, and management we often search for the veneer of precision. Thus for me, being deeply entrenched in the social sciences, having a teacher, colleague, and supporter like Aya Cohen is invaluable. She is uniquely capable of not simply applying her innovative statistical techniques, but also is uniquely gifted in the more difficult task of helping researchers to reformulate their questions in such a way that, indeed, their propositions and ideas are truly testable. To say that Aya is a great statistician and a superior colleague is a given. Let us not forget that she has an exceptional analytical mind and a great partner in the theory creation process. Thank you, Aya, for all your support.

Sam Bacharach

Aya yekara,
These are your high school friends writing in English, for lack of the right font.
Dear Aya, you are good at understanding and interpreting data, as you were at understanding your friends and creating dates ... Fifty two years later, with three children and eight grandchildren, we are very grateful. We would have loved to take part in your party. Alas, we are too far. We know that you are not “retiring” and that you will continue to be the same creative, careful, and thorough scientist and the same great teacher as you have always been. I (Daphna) witnessed it in high school, when you tutored classmate in Geometry with great patience and sensitivity. I was there with you, trying to do the same, but it was clear that you were, by far, the better teacher.
Elisha and you epitomize for us the Beautiful Israelis. We wish we were close enough to embrace you today.

With love,
Daphna and Yoram

For Aya

Dear Aya,

I am so proud to be part of your multitude of admirers who honor you on your retirement. I wish I could be present with those you have taught and mentored and been a valued, trusted and indispensable colleague to. You know I am thinking of you and celebrating with you! It is my very special privilege to have known you for more than 45 years, sharing joys and sorrows like sisters. Although, I have not been part of your academic life, I have great admiration for your significant contributions of statistical analysis to so many different fields of research and study that has led to better understanding of complex relationships and findings.... even for non-mathematical persons like me! You are my treasured friend. Your strength and wisdom and deep understanding have always sustained me throughout the years of our friendship. I can’t wait for our time together next summer in Seattle and many more visits to come.

With love and congratulations,
Sue

Dear Ayala,

If you remember, we met during the early 1970s. I was then on the faculty of the Department of Statistics at Tel-Aviv University, but because all of my colleagues wondered why I never had a second job, I began to teach at the Technion for my "chaltura".

Ruth Heller, who is visiting Philadelphia this year, told me you were retiring and that this on-line memory book was being created to show our appreciation for your impact on statistics in Israel and for the statistical community there. I am sorry that I will not be there in person to share in this moment of remembrances, but I hope that these few words can bring back pleasant memories.

I always looked forward each week to the day I travelled to the Technion and had a chance to talk to you about statistics, data analysis, and your experiences at Bell Labs. I found our once-a-week conversations truly enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable. Somewhat later, you sent me a paper related to my earlier work on intervention analysis in time series. I'm sorry we never kept more in touch.

It's strange to hear that you will be retiring. However, I'm glad that you will remain active in research and in consulting and not just fade into the background, which I'm sure would be so out of character for you.

I'm really happy that through the Internet I can be a part of this celebration. In this way, I can express my heartfelt appreciation to you for all the positive interaction we had while I was in Israel. I'm planning on visiting Israel again soon with my family and I hope we can reconnect then.

Best wishes for an absolutely wonderful retirement,
Alan

איה –
נפגשנו לראשונה כשסיימתי את לימודי לתואר ראשון. הגעתי לעבוד במעבדה לסטטיסטיקה והוזמנתי לפגוש אותך במשרדך. כבר ברגע שנכנסתי ידעתי שהגעתי למקום הנכון. ידעתי שאני רוצה שתהיי המנחה שלי, שאני רוצה לעבוד במעבדה, אצלך. שאני רוצה ללמוד כאן את התואר השני, ללמוד אצלך סטטיסטיקה. אז עוד לא ידעתי את שאני יודע כעת - שהשנים במחיצתך ילמדו אותי הרבה יותר מסטטיסטיקה.
שהיתי בטכניון 5 שנים ובהן היית לי מנחה, מרצה, מנהלת במעבדה, תרגלתי קורסים שלימדת. למדתי ממך המון ויהיה גם נכון לומר שלא הייתי מסיים את התזה בלעדייך. אבל מעל הכל היית ועודך חברה. דלתך תמיד פתוחה לקראתי ואת תמיד קשובה. תמיד אני יכול לשאול ולהתייעץ, אבל אנו גם יכולים לדבר על דברים שאינם סטטיסטיקה – על אומנות, על מדע, על הנעשה כאן ובעולם.
את הייתי הראשונה שהפנתה אותי אל מדעי ההתנהגות (בסוף המ"א) ובכך ראית את הנולד הרבה לפני שראיתי אני. אבל את הסטטיסטיקה אני לא עוזב, והרבה בזכותך, שהיית לי מודל לאיך עובד סטטיסטיקאי. סטטיסטיקאית דגולה אם יורשה לי.
איה – הייתה לי זכות גדולה להכירך, ללמוד ממך, לעבוד במחיצתך. ואני בטוח שנמשיך להפגש ולעבוד יחד במסגרות החדשות שאנו מוצאים לנו.
באהבה רבה,
אוּרי עייק