From Louisiana State University:

"We are sad to report the earlier passing of Dr. James P. Geaghan, Professor Emeritus and former head of the Department of Experimental Statistics.  Dr. James P. Geaghan, 73, died on October 26th, 2019 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, after a short illness.

Dr. Geaghan was born on March 18th, 1946 in Bangor, Maine. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from North Carolina State University in December 1980 and was hired as an assistant professor in the Louisiana State University Department of Experimental Statistics in August 1980. Dr. Geaghan worked his way through the academic ranks and was ultimately appointed Department Head in July 2007. He also held an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences. Jay was an excellent teacher, researcher, and statistical consultant, and was involved in research throughout the University. During his time at LSU, he authored or co-authored over 500 refereed publications and interacted with thousands of faculty and students as a statistical consultant, graduate committee member, and instructor. His contributions to the use of sound statistical methodology across campus should never be forgotten. 

Dr. Geaghan retired from LSU in January 2016. He is survived by his wife Angelica and two children, Kimberly and JP.  A memorial service was not held. Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers."

From Liz Garlo:

I am so grateful to have seen both of the Geaghans fairly recently at the reunion in Gilmanton Ironworks, NH, in 2018.  I would like to say that Jay was one of the kindest, most giving and selfless people I know.  Here is a note written by a friend from Jay's department at LSU: "Our desks were side-by-side in grad school. He had a sign on his desk that said SE HABLA ESPANOL, and Spanish-speaking grad students from many departments at NCSU came to Jay with their statistical questions.  Jay was never too busy to help anyone, and people always left with a feeling that they knew much more than when they arrived.  He was a great teacher even before he officially started teaching."  

From Jeff Breiwick:

Recently, Liz Garlo received a package of photos and some slides from our Camp Armac days in the mail. They were sent by Angelica Geaghan. Sadly it was on the passing of her husband of 48 years, Jay Geaghan. Jay passed away on October 26, 2019, while he and Angelica were visiting his family, including a newborn grandson, in Washington DC. 

I would also like to mention a few memories of Jay. After our fisheries orientation in Valparaiso in 1968, Jay and I headed off to Punta Arenas. Jay ended up in the small town of Porvenir on the Tierra del Fuego side of the Straits of Magellan but we both worked on centolla (Chilean king crab). One of our projects was to tag crabs with spaghetti tags (a coded, plastic noodle-shaped tag), and too often while inserting the tag the crab would reach around and grab one of our fingers in a vise-like grip. Our immediate reaction was to panic and try and shake the crab off. Invariably, we would be left with bloody fingers, mainly from the spines on the carapace. 

Another memory is the time I stayed at the pension where Jay was living in Porvenir. There were a lot of sheep on Tierra del Fuego (once, when taking a boat from Punta Arenas to Tierra del Fuego I slept in the hold that was packed with sheep carcasses and my Eddie Bauer down sleeping bag got permanently stained by sheep blood). One day for dinner at the pension the first course was a salad of dandelions and chopped mutton; the second course was mutton soup; the third course was potatoes and mutton. We met a couple of girls in Porvenir and invited them to a movie and one of the girl's brother had to accompany us. It was a western movie and we sat on wooden benches (no backs). They showed reel 1 followed by reel 3 and then reel 2. Nobody seemed to mind very much. Back in Santiago Jay and I shared a room in a pension on Irarrasaval street, near the Estadio Nacional (the same pension that Kennita Cummings was at and I think Lance Wilcox was also there). 

Later we shared a house together in the La Reina neighborhood in Santiago. We both worked at IFOP (Instituto de Fomento Pesquero) on Avenida Pedro de Valdivia. Jay was always willing to help anybody and always seemed to be upbeat. He extolled his hometown of Bangor, Maine so much I thought he must have been on the Chamber of Commerce payroll. When his younger brother visited him in Santiago we traveled to Machu Picchu together. Later, back in Seattle, Jay's brother was in town and stayed with my wife and me. I returned to the Seattle area in December 1971 and the next time I saw Jay was at the 2003 Twisp reunion. Then I saw him and his wife was in 2008 in Santiago. Jay and Angelica were passing through Santiago on the way to Valdivia where he was doing a sabbatical from LSU. I was in Santiago with my wife because I had an International Whaling Commission meeting there. After the meeting, we stayed with Valentina Concha (former PC secretary) at her apartment in the Ñuñoa neighborhood. Valentina and Augusta Crino (Peace Corps administrative secretary) arranged for us all (Jay & Angelica, Augusta, Valentina & her son, and my wife & I)  to meet at Augusta's apartment for a very nice Chilean dinner and some reminiscing. We also saw him at the 2018 New Hampshire reunion. Jay and I kept in touch since Chile by phone or email. I have very pleasant memories of our friendship and time in Chile; he will be missed.