Kenneth James Arnold

YARMOUTHPORT —

Dr. Kenneth James Arnold, 95, of Yarmouthport and Chatham, and formerly of East Lansing, Mich., died Saturday, July 17, 2010, at the Mary McCarthy Care Center in Sandwich.

Born in Pawtucket, R.I., on Aug. 20, 1914, he was also raised there and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from MIT in the Class of 1936, and a Ph.D in 1941. He was an instructor at MIT, assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, a member of the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University during World War II, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For 30 years he taught statistics in the mathematics and the mathematical statistics departments at Michigan State University, where he retired in 1980.

Dr. Arnold co-authored a text book, "Parameter Estimation in Engineering and Science," with Dr. James V. Beck in 1977. He served as an editor for the "Journal of The Society For Industrial And Applied Mathematics" and was elected to the leadership council where he served from 1957 to 1963.

During the summer of 1939, he had a fellowship at the Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole where he met Pauline Frew. They were married in the Indian Meeting House of Mashpee. They raised their family in East Lansing, Mich., and retired to Chatham in 1980. Pauline died in 2003 after being married 63 years.

In addition to his career, he was treasurer of the First United Methodist Church in Chatham for many years, volunteered for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and was on the board of the Council on Aging in Chatham.

He is survived by two children, W. David Arnold of Hampton, Va., and Rebecca Arnold Sill of Elmhurst, Ill. Another son, Robert J. Arnold, died in 2005. He also leaves seven grandchildren and four great-granddaughters, in addition to his very special friend, Ms. Jean Saxton, and Robert's wife Kristen Arnold.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, at Heatherwood at Kings Way, off Route 6A, Yarmouthport. All are welcome.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Cape Cod, 765 Attucks Lane, Hyannis, MA 02601 (www.hospicecapecod.org); or to the First United Methodist Church of Chatham, 16 Cross St., Chatham, MA 02633 (www.chathammethodist.org).