Robert Marshall Pruzek

Pruzek, Robert Marshall ALBANY Robert Marshall Pruzek, aged 75, beloved father of Kirsten Ellen Pruzek and Robert Todd Thomas Pruzek, passed away peacefully on January 21, 2016, in Long Beach, Calif. He was born in Glendale, Calif, and then moved with his family to Sand Creek, Wis., where he grew up working on the family dairy farm. It is on this farm where he also learned to fly, one of his many lifetime passions. He joined a family tradition of flying and spent many happy summers at the Oshkosh air show. He passed his original flight test with particular proficiency in the short field take off and landing, having learned to fly within the confines of surrounding corn fields. He was the eldest of four children and is survived by his brothers, Richard (Rick) Pruzek (Irene), and Russell Pruzek (Sue). He is predeceased by his parents, Dolores (Waterhouse) Pruzek and Theophile (Frank) Pruzek, and his sister, Kathleen (Kay) Pruzek. He married and is survived by his children, Kirsten Ellen Pruzek (and her daughter, Sophia) and Robert Todd Thomas Pruzek (Karen), and Todd's children, Maya and Thomas Pruzek. He was known to his grandchildren as "papaya" and was proud of them and their accomplishments. He is also survived by previous spouses, Kathleen Pruzek, the mother of his children, and Lynn Gelzheiser. He received his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and received a Ph.D. in psychometrics and statistics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was recruited by several universities and ended up choosing the State University of New York at Albany (now, University at Albany) in 1965, where he began his gratifying 50- year career as professor in the division of educational psychology and methodology with a specialization in statistics, experimental design and research methodology. He was honored to also hold a joint professorship with the UAlbany School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He took great pride in having trained a generation of graduate students in advanced methods of statistical analysis. He was a member of the elite "Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology" (SMEP), an honor extended by invitation only, with only 65 members. Another SMEP colleague described him as "one of the most respected and highly revered members." He had just retired and accepted the honor of the UAlbany's "O'Leary Professorship" (equivalent to the title of Professor Emeritus) before he passed away. He lived a life of great substance which included travel with his children and family, spending months together on a sabbatical in Europe in 1975, a sabbatical in Shanghai, China, in 1983, a love of pie, classical music, especially Beethoven, a great appreciation of humor, Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams being his two favorite comedians, and a unique knack for creating absurd and lasting nicknames for his children and grandchildren; a tradition which both his offspring will enjoy keeping alive and well. He was unfailingly optimistic and found tremendous satisfaction and joy spending time with his doctoral students and other professional colleagues. He loved golfing on beautiful courses, especially when he could do so with his son, Todd, and he appreciated fast cars, fast airplanes (he found it exhilarating to fly acrobatically and flew with a special stunt pilot, who flew him straight up, stalled the plane, dove downward and then pulled upwards of 3Gs), and made an extensive trip around the world between late 2004 and 2005. In November 2014 he was a deeply grateful recipient of a dual organ transplant (liver/kidney, donor unknown) from Indiana University Hospital after a 16-month wait. His enormous determination aided him in making a remarkable recovery, during which he moved from Indianapolis, Ind. to Long Beach, to be closer to his son, Todd, and to continue his recuperation in warmer climates. Sadly, he succumbed to an aggressive latent skin cancer, incurable because of his immuno-suppressed condition. He was uniformly regarded as a treasured colleague with good humor, a brilliant mind, sharp methodological insight, kindness and someone whose extraordinary will to live was based largely on his passion for his work in statistics in propensity score analysis, exploratory longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian statistical methods, visualization and graphical methods, and was considered a top expert in the computer code "R." He was a very special person, a deeply loved father, and he is already missed enormously. A memorial service will be held at the UAlbany's, Alumni House, 1400 Washington Ave., on February 18, 2016, between the hours of 4-6 pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York (regionalfoodbank.net) or to the Heifer Foundation, (heifer.org) or to a charity of your choice.