Vera David

B. 1928 d. 1991

Vera David was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and left for England following Nazi occupation of Prague, then emigrated to Sydney, Australia with her parents. She received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry at Sydney University in 1950 and married Herbert A. David in London, working there as a biochemist for three years while her husband completed his doctorate in statistics. The family came to the U.S. in 1957 and to Ames in 1972. Vera received a master's degree in communications at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1970. While her husband was director/head of the statistics center at Iowa State from 1972 to 1984, she was active in Statistics Women, which brought wives of statistics faculty and students together with women faculty and students. She contributed much to the warmth and congeniality of Statistical Laboratory events. Under her leadership, Statistics Women organized many department-wide functions and instituted the Statistics Winter Party. On numerous occasions she opened her home to faculty and students, especially those from other countries. Much of that time she was working on campus as technical editor for the Ames Laboratory of the Department of Energy. She had also worked for WOI-TV and the Iowa State Department of Health. Vera was active in Amnesty International and the Ames Jewish Congregation. A Vera David Fellowship established in her memory supports an outstanding female graduate student in statistics.

7/1/96

Paver Inscription:

"Statistics Dept & Lab
Lenore Bancroft
Helen J. Bozivich
Donna Ruhl Brogan
Mary A. Clem
Gertrude Mary Cox
Vera David
Kathleen D. Shelley
Shashikala Sukhatme"