It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Roberto S. "Bobby" Mariano, Emeritus Professor of Economics, on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Bobby received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 1970, advised by renowned statistician Theodore W. Anderson. He served on the Penn Economics faculty from 1971 to 2004, teaching a variety of graduate and undergraduate econometrics courses. He then moved to Singapore Management University, where he served as Founding Dean of the School of Economics and Social Sciences (2002-2007) and Dean of the School of Economics (2007-2010). He was well known in econometrics for his pioneering methodological contributions to exact finite-sample distribution theory and forecast accuracy comparison, and he was an elected Fellow of the Econometric Society. In 2022, he was appointed by Pope Francis to serve as a Board Member of the Vatican's Supervisory and Financial Information Authority. Bobby Mariano was a gregarious colleague. His bright smile, positivity, warmth and sense of humor will be dearly missed.
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