Professor Emeritus William “Bill” Hines passed away on June 25, 2019.

Hines received a B.S. in mathematics from Memphis State University in 1954. After serving in the Air Force for several years, he earned both a master’s degree (1958) and a PhD (1964) from Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

Hines served on the ISyE faculty for several decades. It was during his stint as associate chair for graduate studies – a position he held from 1968 to 1996 – that ISyE was first ranked as the No. 1 graduate industrial engineering program.

He served as an early editor-in-chief of AIIE Transactions, which eventually became IISE Transactions. Hines also co-authored a popular and long-used textbook, Probability and Statistics in Engineering.

Professor Dave Goldsman, who served as a co-editor with Hines on one of the latest revisions of the textbook, said, “Bill Hines was a senior faculty member and, in fact, the graduate chair when I arrived at ISyE in the mid-1980s. He made sure that I was given appropriate courses to teach and even guided a grad student or two my way in order to help me get going in my academic career. After he retired, Bill invited me to come on board with a revision of his popular Probability and Statistics textbook for engineers, and it was certainly nice to work with him on that project.”

ISyE Professor Emeritus Gary Parker had a similar remembrance of Hines’ academic ability and professional generosity. “Bill Hines took one of the first PhDs awarded from ISyE, then joined the faculty around 1962,” said Parker.  “In the late 1960s, he was named ISyE graduate chair; in fact, when I interviewed in the summer of 1971, I distinctly remember chatting with Bill, sharing my teaching and research interests.  Fortunately I was hired, and true to his word, he let me teach a preferred graduate course very early in my career – something that was not automatic in those old-school days. He also directed a Ph.D. student or two my way, which, as a young untenured faculty member, I very much appreciated. 

“When Georgia Tech brought in Joseph Pettit as president in 1972, everyone knew that the plan was to elevate the Institute's visibility in research and doctoral education,” continued Parker. “But getting on board with that transition was not easy. Bill hung in there, however, and when he retired in 1996, he had served for a quarter of a century as ISyE's chair of graduate programs. I was named to succeed him, and just as he had helped me when I was first hired all those years before, Bill was also gracious and helpful as I moved into his position when he stepped down.”

Hines is survived by his wife of 59 years, Gayle, his sons William and Matthew, and a grandson, Nathaniel. His daughter, Jennifer, predeceased him.

You can read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary of Hines here: https://legcy.co/2LPkM5P.