OBITUARIES: IRWIN VANDERHOOF 1927 - 2000

North American Actuarial Journal, Jul 2004 by Albert, Faye

Irwin Vanderhoof was a modern version of the Renaissance man. His interests were far-flung, and he sought out and found connections among disparate areas of study. The enthusiasm he brought to each new subject was genuine and infectious. Who else might be able to speak extemporaneously on astronomy and the space program, historical boxing champions, and Tuvan-throat singing?

Irwin thoroughly enjoyed learning and always included educational experiences in his schedule. After graduating college in physics, Irwin's indomitable curiosity led him into other areas of study, acquiring several academic degrees and professional designations. He continued in education from the other side of the lectern, teaching at the College of Insurance in New York and at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Irwin was a gifted scholar and communicator, in short, a great teacher. He was at home in front of an audience, large or small, and always put on a wonderful show, effectively telling his tale and explaining his views.

Too, Irwin was the quintessential absentminded professor. He might wear shoes of two different colors, but it was no big deal; he considered such matters unimportant. Wonder about a scientific question, however, and Irwin always paid attention and had an idea where to find relevant information. Very often, a fine resource was his personal library or stock of stuff. He was a collector and saver.

Irwin saw work as an important avenue to achieve meaning in life, and he was proud of being an actuary. He thought about how to promote the profession to make sure it survived. He was concerned that we actuaries were not sufficiently careful in attending to our roots, studying and expanding our scientific and mathematical approaches. If we did not add particular value to problem solving, why did there need to be actuaries at all? When our education and examination system strayed from rigorous attention to mathematics, he worried that actuaries would be supplanted by other disciplines. Irwin was a person who loved finding a better way and tirelessly sought new and better solutions to problems.

This passion was effectively applied by a brilliant actuary whose ideas lead to many innovative approaches using actuarial techniques to address various financial problems. Creative and forward thinking, he did his best to engage the profession in these new areas of intellectual inquiry. The spirit that moved him was both adventurous and evangelical. If someone had a problem in need of solution, it was, "Actuaries to the Rescue!" Irwin was there, super actuary, an in-the flesh representative, showing the way to approach questions and think through issues.

As a natural outgrowth of these convictions, Irwin did his best to lead the actuarial profession into new areas of intellectual inquiry. And, he identified new issues earlier than most of us. Countless Society of Actuaries' conventions and committees benefited from his contributions by his presence and through his papers and lectures. Often recruited as a speaker at Society of Actuaries' sponsored meetings, he was always ready to help out, as an entertaining and informative addition to the program. He was the moving spirit behind so many research projects, symposia, and papers. (A library search under Irwin's name on the Society of Actuaries' Web site results in 265 matches for papers and articles.) He was a person who loved new investigations, research, and tirelessly sought new and better solutions to problems. His many contributions stemmed from his conviction that work brings lasting satisfaction. All these many works led to his being awarded the Society of Actuaries President's Award by Anna Rappaport in 1998.

Consulting for Goldman-Sachs on matters of investment integration using actuarial methods led the way for building relationships with those in the finance community. For example, at the Stern School of Business in collaboration with Ed Altman, Irwin organized conferences providing an opportunity for exchanges among actuaries, accountants, investment professionals, and anyone else concerned about emerging methods for valuing and accounting for the insurance business. Analysis of risky fixed income instruments, extrapolation of interest rate and mortality data to financial analysis, yield curve analysis, performance measurement, and asset and liability valuation are some of his impressive output. In reflecting on Irwin's contributions, Professor Altman said, ". . . in financial applications of actuarial science techniques, no one can compare with Irwin . . . (he is one of the) best examples of someone who bridges the gap between scholarly inquiry and pragmatic application . . ."

Perhaps Irwin's most unique contribution was the use of quasi-Monte Carlo scenarios for developing the distribution of anticipated asset values. This work led to his obtaining a patent with collaborators at Columbia University. I had the good fortune to work with him, applying this technique, using Finder (a modeling program) to evaluate different allocations of asset classes. Irwin saw a way to calculate a deterministic distribution of asset values more efficiently than using the usual random number generators.