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50The importance of mentorsDonald B. RubinDepartment of StatisticsHarvard University, Cambridge, MAOn this 50th anniversary of the COPSS, I feel incredibly fortunate to havestumbled into the career path that I followed, which appears, even in hindsight,like an overgrown trail in the woods that somehow led to a spectacularlocation. In some sense, there is an odd coincidence in that it is also roughlythe 50th anniversary of my recognizing the field of statistics as a valuable one.When thinking about what I could say here that might interest or help others,and is not available in other places, I eventually decided to write about mypath and the importance, to me at least, of having wonderful “mentors” withdifferent backgrounds, which allowed me to appreciate many different modesof productive thinking. Probably the characteristic of the field of statisticsthat makes it so appealing to me is the wonderful breadth of intellectual topicsthat it touches. Many of my statistical mentors had a deep appreciationfor this, and for that I will always be grateful, but also I have always felt veryfortunate to have had admirable mentors from other disciplines as well.50.1 My early yearsI grew up in Evanston, Illinois, home of Northwestern University. As a kid,I was heavily influenced intellectually by a collection of people from variousdirections. My father was one of four brothers, all of whom were lawyers, andwe used to have stimulating arguments about all sorts of topics; arguing wasnot a hostile activity but rather an intellectually engaging one. Probably themost argumentative was Uncle Sy, from DC, who had framed personal lettersof thanks for service from, eventually, all the presidents starting with HarryTruman going through Gerald Ford, as well as some contenders, such as AdlaiStevenson, and various Supreme Court Justices, and even Eleanor Rooseveltwith whom I shook hands back then. It was a daunting experience, not onlybecause of her reputation, but also because, according to my memory, she was605