IN MEMORIAM: WARD EDWARDS

Ward Edwards, internationally known authority on decision analysis and behavioral decision research, died Feb. 1 in Glendale (Calif.) Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Edwards retired from the University of Southern California in 1995 after a career that included teaching at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the University of Michigan. At USC, he was the director of the Social Science Research Institute from 1973 to 1995.

In the mid-1950s Dr. Edwards wrote several articles that established the field of behavioral decision research. This field is well known today through its applications to behavioral finance and behavioral economics and the recent Nobel Prize awarded to Daniel Kahneman. In 1962 Dr. Edwards founded the Bayesian Research Conference of the decision research community, which he led for the next 40 years.

Dr. Edwards received a number of awards for his contributions to science, including the Franklin V. Taylor Award from the Society of Engineering Psychologists, the Frank P. Ramsey Medal from the Operation Research Society of America and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in Applied Psychology from the American Psychological Association.

In addition to his numerous consultancies, Edwards was a prolific author and contributor to professional journals. He wrote or participated in a number of books, including the seminal “Decision Analysis and Behavioral Research” (with D. von Winterfeldt). In 1999 he was honored with a volume of tributes titled “Decision Science and Technology: Reflections on the Contributions of Ward Edwards” (edited by Shanteau, Mellers, and Schum).

He is survived by his wife, Sandra Edwards, of Studio City, Calif.; a daughter, Tara Edwards Barber, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; a son, Page Edwards, of San Francisco; a sister, Corinne Edwards Greenwald, of Arlington, Va.; and three grandchildren.