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IN MEMORY

Halbert White Jr.
 
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05/21/18 06:56 PM #10    

Royal Scanlon

On this one Celeste tagged it as follows, "Mischievous Hal"


05/21/18 06:57 PM #11    

Royal Scanlon

Hal proudly showing off his Superman costume.


05/21/18 06:57 PM #12    

Royal Scanlon

Celeste wrote, "Teenage/ Formal" on this one.


05/21/18 06:57 PM #13    

Royal Scanlon

Here's the Hal we all knew and loved being congratulated for another outstanding trumpet solo.


05/21/18 06:58 PM #14    

Royal Scanlon

I found the following notation when searching "Princeton Valedictorians" on the internet.  "Many Princeton valedictorians have been reluctant to exhort their classmates on political and social questions. The 1972 valedictorian, Halbert L. White, while expressing a similar reluctance, nevertheless voiced his own 'fervent hope for . . . the emergence of an awareness on the part of our country that we no longer can act as an isolated national entity fighting for world dominance, but must instead act as an integral member of the human and natural community of this planet.' ''


05/21/18 06:59 PM #15    

Royal Scanlon

This is a picture of Hal, still smiling and engaged (even through the pain) looking a lot like a relaxed and at easy Sean Connery, shortly before his untimely death in 2012.

 


05/22/18 09:00 AM #16    

Judi Lyddon (Adams)

I have fond memories of Hal in 5th grade--after all I had the biggest crush on him back then.  We had class together at Border Star.  He was so funny and engaging.  How wonderful that he has had such an impact on the economic world, his family, and friends.  


05/22/18 01:10 PM #17    

Royal Scanlon

I have just received the following pictures and letter (pasted here below) from Hal's sister, Celeste White. She has asked if I would share them with his classmates and of course I am glad to do so.

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Hal was brilliant - besides being the Salutatorian of the 1968 graduating class, Southwest High School, he was the 1972 Valedictorian of Princeton University, and he earned his PhD from MIT in just three years.  He wrote a paper on robust-standard-errors, that has (by a wide margin) been the most cited journal article in the field of Economics since 1970.  In 1980 he published "a heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator and a direct test for heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, (a statistical test that establishes whether the variance of the errors in a regression model is constant), that bears his name and is referred to in the worlds of economics and statistical testing as, the White test.

He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he was short-listed for the Nobel Prize in Economics twice. 

His brilliance wasn’t restricted to economics, though.  He contributed ground-breaking work in the field of neural networks, and his statistical methods and expertise contributed to the field of medicine.  At his memorial service, a former colleague approached me to tell me that Hal’s help allowed him to make a breakthrough in plasma screen technology.

This merely scratches the surface of Hal’s impressive accomplishments, but Hal never bragged on himself and was always deeply interested to hear what someone else was pursuing in their careers or leisure time.  His lively curiosity knew no bounds.

He never gave up his trumpet and delighted in playing with big band jazz bands and traveling with his pocket trumpet so that he could sit in with jazz bands on his academic travels.  His trumpet solos were like no others I have ever seen or heard; he put his entire body and soul into his creative and melodious riffs.  He composed and arranged music as well.

His sense of humor was delightful, and he contributed several pieces of memoir to the literary journal, The Hot Air Quarterly, one notable piece involving fellow Southwest alum and good friend Royal Scanlon.  He loved nothing more than to laugh, and when he laughed, it was beyond infectious. 

But perhaps the quality I remember and treasure most about him was his kindness.  He was one of the kindest people I have ever known.  He was a gentle soul and a sweet one, from the time he was a small boy, to his death from a rare and aggressive cancer in 2012.  He has left a giant void in my world with his passing.  But it’s a comfort to know that his legacy lives on in those who love and remember him.

Celeste White

April 18, 2018


05/22/18 03:10 PM #18    

Melissa Burr (Jackson)

The fact that Hal went on to make such a big impression on so many brings tears to my eyes and to think I only was around him at Border Star, then Southwest. Gosh, I missed out. I remember Celeste, his sweet sister. Hal was quite accomplished. I'm proud to have grown up around him.

05/30/18 12:56 PM #19    

Doris Frazier (Vogt)

Hal and I were in Latin class together for two years amoung others.  I always said he could read and translate Latin better than anyone in the class.  We had a Latin Club function where we all wore togas.  I'll never forget Hal in that white toga with that big grin on his face.  Always fun and such a nice guy.  I had no doubt he would do great things.


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