Lambert Bert"" Koopmans

Lambert “Bert” Koopmans, PhD, 80, a longtime resident of Albuquerque and Los Lunas, died peacefully in the presence of his family on June 4, 2011, at Kaseman Presbyterian Hospice in Albuquerque of complications from a stroke he suffered a week earlier. Bert was born in Chicago, Illinois, and spent his youth and young adulthood in Lemon Grove, California. There he was actively involved as a musician in his school bands as well as a swing dance band. He was also a long-time scout with the Boy Scouts of America and served in the National Guard from 1948-1951 in Battery A of the 730th Anti-Aircraft Gun Battalion. After graduating San Diego State University with a degree in mathematics, Bert went on to study statistics at UC Berkeley with David Blackwell and received a PhD in Statistics in 1958. He married Sharon Archibald of San Diego in 1955 and the couple moved to Albuquerque in 1958 where Bert took a position as a research scientist at Sandia Laboratories. He worked there until 1964, when he took a position at University of New Mexico as a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, which he chaired from 1969-1974. During his distinguished career he was a fellow of the American Statistical Association and Institute of Mathematical Statistics, as well as an elected member of the International Statistics Institute. As a consultant, he worked for Westinghouse Corporation, UNM School of Medicine, UNM Civil Engineering Research Facility, and the Environmental Improvement Division of the State of New Mexico. He was also the director of the Statistical Laboratory for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UNM. He wrote many articles and two books, An Introduction to Contemporary Statistical Methods and Spectral Analysis of Time Series, the latter becoming one of the foremost graduate texts in his field. Bert also took two working sabbaticals, as a Visiting Research Associate at UC Santa Cruz (1971-1972) and as a Visiting Professor of Statistics at Princeton University (Fall 1975). He retired from teaching in 1990, continuing to write and contribute as an emeritus faculty member at UNM, traveling the country with Sharon in their motor home and enjoying each other and their family until Sharon passed away in 1993 from cancer. Bert later remarried and divorced. He spent the last years of his life living happily in the care of the staff at Beehive Assisted Living in Los Lunas, receiving frequent calls and visits from his friends and family. Bert enjoyed cycling, racquetball, tennis, ballroom dancing, traveling, and, especially in his later years, reading and watching movies. A much beloved family man, he is survived by sister and brother-in-law Barbara and Harry Towler of La Mesa, California, daughter and son-in-law Melissa and Tim Grattan of Las Cruces, daughter and son-in-law Vanessa and Don Wader of Los Lunas, son and daughter-in-law David and Laura Koopmans of Albuquerque, and son and daughter-in-law Andrew Koopmans and Angela Mihm of Seattle, Washington. He is also survived by grandchildren Clarissa Wagner, Chet Wagner, Daniel Wader, Derek Wader, and Elisa Wader. He is also survived by Derek's wife Jennifer Wader and their daughter, Alexxis Wader. Bert’s ashes will be interred with Sharon’s at Vista Verde Memorial Park in Rio Rancho, NM. No services will be held. In lieu of flowers, please send donation to the American Cancer Society. Mr. Koopman’s care has been entrusted to: Daniels Family Funeral Services Sara Road Chapel 4310 Sara Road SE Rio Rancho, New Mexico 87124 505-892-9920