Professor Emeritus Mir Maswood Ali, 80, died Aug. 18 after lengthy battle with pneumonia. Ali spent 33 years at Western before retiring in 1994. The flag will be lowered Aug. 21 until dusk in his memory.
Born in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, Ali earned his B.Sc. and master’s (Statistics) from the University of Dhaka. He worked as an actuarial assistant from 1952 to 1957, before obtaining another master’s (Actuarial Mathematics) at the University of Michigan – working as a teaching fellow until 1961.
Ali completed a doctorate at the University of Toronto in 1961 before joining the faculty ranks at the University of Western Ontario – obtaining full professorship in 1966. He developed the undergraduate and graduate programs in Statistics within the Department of Mathematics, and contributed to the creation of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.
Ali taught a wide array of courses in Mathematics, Actuarial Science and Statistics and assumed a large portion of the graduate teaching. Active in graduate supervision, 40 masters and 15 PhD students have completed degrees with his guidance.
Ali published more than 35 scholarly papers, many in leading journals, and was granted the title of Professor Emeritus in 1994.
A service for Ali was held Aug. 19 at the Islamic Centre of Southwestern Ontario in London. He is survived by his wife and eight children.