It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Dr Takashi (Tak) Takayama, Foundation Professor of Economic Statistics at UNE from 1965 – 1968.
Throughout his career, Dr Takayama became known for his important research and significant contribution to the field of economics. While he was only at UNE for a short time, Dr Takayama made a notable impact on his students and colleagues within the Faculty of Agricultural Economics.
UNE Business School's Adjunct Professor George Battese was Dr Takayama’s first Masters student at UNE, and he remembers him as an enthusiastic and committed and supervisor.
“I attended his classes on economic analysis, along with other staff members who marvelled at his presentations and genius in his field of expertise,” he said.
“His adoring wife, Nora, also attend his lectures regularly and was so proud of Tak’s accomplishments and him being the youngest ever foundation professor at UNE.”
Former colleague, Emeritus Professor in Agricultural Economics, Dr J. Brian Hardaker, also remembers Dr Takayama with fondness, after spending many hours together developing a way to account for risk in mathematical programming.
“Tak would turn up with pages of algebra regularly, and while much of it went over my head, I would look at it and try to give useful comments,” he said.
“He would listen to my ideas and the next day would turn up with a totally different set of pages. I cannot recall how it ended up but our to-ing and fro-ing was fun and made us friends.”
Dr Takayama’s first PhD student at UNE, Dr Alan Woodward, is now a Scientia Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales. In a recent letter to Dr Takayama’s daughter Katrina, Alan said he and Tak became fast friends while completing his PhD, despite him being a ‘tough taskmaster’.
He was a tough taskmaster, but very fair and very willing to contribute a lot of time and support when he could see that I (and others) responded positively. He always had a great smile to go with it.
“Tak played a very important role in my life,” Professor Woodward wrote.
“He came on the scene at UNE around the end of my first year of the PhD program and made a big impression on all the graduate students of that time, including me.
“While I seem to recall that he initially thought that I was a ‘bit lazy’, he fixed that by instilling in me a good Japanese/North American work ethic. He was a tough taskmaster, but very fair and very willing to contribute a lot of time and support when he could see that I (and others) responded positively. He always had a great smile to go with it.”
In 1968, Dr Takayama and his family left Armidale, returning to the United States where he continued pioneering research on spatial economic analysis at the University of Illinois, alongside Professor of Econometrics, Dr George G. Judge. Their work in this field has had a significant impact on economics in the decades since.
In addition to his time at UNE and the University of Illinois, Dr Takayama worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, the US Energy Information Administration, the World Bank in Washington D.C. and the University of Western Australia. Following his retirement, he worked at the Tokiwa University in Japan between the years of 1996 and 2000.
Tak lived a full and happy life spanning 92 years, and loved to spend his free time walking his dog and playing tennis with his family and friends.
Our condolences go to his wife of 57 years, Nora, and his four children, Tony, Tanya, Katrina and Nicolas.
