Dear Colleagues,

I share with you sad news from the Department of Anthropology in the College of Letters and Science. Professor Joseph Patrick (Pat) Gray passed away February 15. He only just retired in 2020 and taught for us as recently as last fall.

Pat was a vital member of the UWM Anthropology department for nearly 40 years, joining the faculty in 1982 and rapidly achieving tenure and then the rank of Full Professor. He served as department chair during several crucial periods and served as the graduate advisor for many years, until his retirement in 2020. He taught the department’s required statistics class to generations of MS and PhD students and was always ready to answer questions and to help graduate students – and fellow faculty – navigate their way through appropriate statistical analyses of their research data.

Many remember bringing him a statistical dilemma and hearing those reassuring words, “send me your data and we can meet to talk about it next week.” The math and coding may have been intimidating, but Pat was not. He is fondly remembered for the way he combined practicality and kindness, sharing his wry wit as he quickly cut to the essentials of problems and their efficient solutions. Not one to waste words, he was famous for writing the pithiest email replies and chairing the speediest faculty meetings.

He enjoyed his academic life and was a valued member of the anthropological community, publishing on primate sociobiology and cross-cultural comparisons of human societies in terms of child development, sexuality, parenting, and pro-social behavior. He collaborated with colleagues on projects that ranged from primatology to anatomy and archaeology. He worked with the Human Relations Area File (HRAF) and served as editor for the journal World Cultures from 1992 to 2014. It was a hallmark of Pat’s research that it was always hypothesis-based and rigorously tested statistically.

Pat is survived by his partner in life and wife of 40 years, Lynne English, and his children, Evan Gray and Lorna Gray.

We share our condolences with Pat’s family and the many others whose lives he touched. For additional information, please see Pat’s obituary.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs