Roald Buhler

Roald Buhler PRINCETON - Roald Buhler, the primary developer of the P-STAT statistical software program, died on Nov. 17 in Princeton, NJ. He was a graduate of Oberlin College, where he majored in music and minored in pinball and bridge. He started graduate work at Rutgers the year they acquired an IBM 650 computer - the "cat's meow" of the day. For him computer programming led not to a degree, but to a profession that he loved: a profession where he would be paid to play. In 1960, Educational Testing Service hired Roald to work on the RCA 501. Soon he began consulting for Princeton professor Harold Gulickson who needed his data analyzed but viewed computers with awe. In 1961 there were no computer application programs. If you wanted computer output, you wrote the instructions yourself or you paid someone else to write them for you in assembler/machine language. Eventually Princeton decided it would be cheaper to offer Roald a job. He jumped at the chance without even asking what his salary might be. His tenure (1963-1979) at Princeton University was during a period of enormous expansion in computing. As computer center director (1966-1970), he was responsible for both the choice of the first real "main frame" computer and the construction of the computer center. The job was a fascinating experience but entailed countless meetings and left little free time for the real fun of writing programs, playing tennis or watching the Princeton basketball and football teams. Princeton's resources were abundant. John Tukey was a strong influence and many of his algorithms were included in what was developing into the program of statistical routines eventually named "P-STAT"(R). These routines were the easy part. The real work came in preparing real-life data such as medical records or survey responses which were keypunched onto cards or tape. Data cleaning, manipulation, and portability is where Roald's programs excelled. P-STAT has been his life's work. It has been commercially available since 1979 and has customers worldwide. His life was not just a working life. The brain that was so brilliant with computer code was also the brain of a musician, a poet with an extraordinary sense of humor, and a word-smith with a zest for life. He was a gentleman, a scholar, an athlete, a good father and a wonderful husband. We will miss him. He is survived by Shirrell, his wife of 62 years; four children and their partners, Eric and Nancy, Sebbie and Chas, David and Karen, Marc and Jenny, and grandchildren, Wade and Owen. In lieu of flowers, you may send contributions in Roald Buhler's name to WWFM The Classical Network, 1200 Old Trenton Rd., West Windsor, NJ, 08550. (online WWFM.org) A celebration of Roald's life will coincide with the 50th Anniversary of P-STAT in 2014. Contact pstatinc@gmail.com for information.