On Saturday, September 3, 2022, Lee Richard Abramson passed away in Silver Spring, Maryland. His second wife, Sondra Yancey Abramson, was by his side. He is survived by his two sons, Danny and Marc, their wives, Penley Knipe and Kara Abramson, and three grandchildren, Karl, Eliora, and Tzipora. He is also survived by a stepson, Rick Yancey. He was predeceased by his first wife, Frances Amitay Abramson, and his younger sister, Roselle Abramson.

He was born in New York City, New York on May 19, 1933, the son of Marcus and Pnina Abramson, and grew up in the Bronx. He was a proud graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Columbia University.

He married Frances in 1954, and they enjoyed 53 years of marriage until her passing in 2007. He met his second wife, Sondra, in 2009 and they married in 2010.

Lee and Frances lived in Morningside Heights in Manhattan for the first two decades of their marriage, where Danny and Marc were born. They moved to Washington, DC in 1971 and lived in the Wakefield neighborhood of Northwest Washington. Following his marriage to Sondra, they moved to North Bethesda, MD, and then in 2020 to Riderwood in Silver Spring, MD.

Lee was a dedicated husband and father who was inseparable from Frances and Sondra and was never anything but proud of and encouraging toward his sons. He was engrossed in his profession, working full-time well into his 70s, consulting into his 80s, and rarely taking long vacations until after his children were grown. Nevertheless, he frequently attended plays and concerts, ran a regular bridge game at his office, belonged with Frances and Sondra to a long-running book club, and was a fervent if indiscriminate movie fan. He also served as the president and long-time treasurer of the condominium on Connecticut Avenue where he lived for 38 years.

He was also a dedicated jogger, having begun in the 1960s long before it became popular and continued until he was nearly 80. Later in life he spent more time traveling with Frances and Sondra, letting their interests or the locations of his sons guide explorations of the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He was also passionate about food, was always willing to try something new, and, when planning his frequent social activities always placed the eating arrangements at the center.

Having worked at the Riverside Research Institute in New York and for the US Energy Research Development Administration and its predecessor agency in Washington for two decades, he joined the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1977, where he spent more than thirty years as a senior research statistician. He was a pioneer in the field of risk analysis, particularly as it applied to nuclear power and its regulation. He preferred working on substantive issues and periodically declined promotions that would have permanently pushed him into the managerial ranks.

He was a dedicated collaborator and educator who enjoyed spreading the gospel of statistics and correcting misimpressions and misapplications of the craft, whether to engineers at the NRC, college students at American University where he was an adjunct professor, high school students when he was working toward a teaching certificate later in life, or elementary schoolers to whom he would regularly give classroom presentations. In 2002, he received the NRC's highest individual honor, the Distinguished Service Award. He was a leader in establishing the American Statistical Association's section on risk analysis and also was active in the Washington Statistical Society, particularly as a science fair coordinator and judge.

Despite his intellectual brilliance and professional accomplishments, he was humble and unpretentious. He preferred to celebrate the achievements of others, whether his classmates, colleagues, friends, spouses, and sons, rather than boast of his own achievements.

Funeral services and interment were held on Wednesday, September 7 at Judean Memorial Gardens in Olney, MD. The family will be receiving and sitting Shiva following services at the Abramson residence as well as on the evening of Saturday, September 10. Minyan will be at 7:30pm on both days. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Statistical Association ( ww2.amstat.org/giving ), selecting "Education" from the drop-down list on the donation page; just below that, checking the box saying "Dedicate this gift"; writing Lee's name in the field labeled "Who do you want to recognize?"; and, highlighting in the drop-down box below "In memory of."