Professor Edward (Jed) Frees retired in May 2018 after 35 years of service in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In celebrating Prof. Frees’ retirement and honoring his tremendous academic accomplishments, the Risk and Insurance Department organized and hosted a workshop on October 12-13, 2018. With over 50 attendees from US, Canada, Belgium, Netherland, and Mexico, it was a memorable weekend get-together in Madison.
The workshop centers around a series of presentations highlighting Prof. Frees’ career achievements as a trailblazing educator and researcher. Featured speakers included Jed’s former PhD students, colleagues, and academic and industry collaborators. In particular, department chair Joan Schmit applauded Jed’s dedicated services to the department, school and the university; Margie Rosenberg, a long-time colleague, emphasized on Jed’s contributions to the actuarial profession; Glenn Meyers (retired chief actuary from ISO Innovative Analytics) and David Cummings (chief actuary from USAA) reiterated Jed’s successful and fruitful collaborations with the insurance industry. In addition, presentations from Jed’s research coauthors summarized Jed’s significant scholarly contributions to the academic community.
The event also featured networking opportunities partially sponsored by the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Society of Actuaries, and a celebration dinner. At the event dinner, a group of Jed’s former students presented a dedicated paver on the Memorial Union Terrace which reads:
In Honor of
Edward W (Jed) Frees
MS Actuarial Science 1976
Professor 1983-2018
An Exceptional Life
Intellectual Giant
Innovative Educator
Inspiration to Everyone
At the end of the dinner, Prof. Frees gave a retirement speech which can be found https://youtu.be/vaM0OKI6Hh4. The event made many memorable moments for all of us. We wish Prof. Frees a happy and productive retirement.
The workshop was organized by Margie Rosenberg and Peng Shi from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Emiliano Valdez from University of Connecticut.
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