Paul D. Pinsky
Sept. 1, 1943-March 8, 2026
Palo Alto, California

Paul D. Pinsky passed away peacefully with family around him on March 8, 2026 in Palo Alto, California. He was born September 1,1943 and grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, attending Hall High School where he was an all-conference athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. Because of Sputnik he was selected for a program in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as a government-sponsored student during the Cold War. It was then that Paul fell in love with the West. That guided his decision to pick Stanford for his graduate program and even his lifelong choices for photography and adventures. Paul was a good student with a playful sense of humor. He could be found hot wiring his dad’s convertible from time to time.

In 1965, Paul graduated from Brown University with honors in Math and Physics. There he was a 4-year letterman in baseball. Then, at Stanford, Paul studied under the renowned mathematician George Dantzig. By 1971, Paul earned a PhD in Operations Research, using statistical analysis to optimize educational outputs.

In 1972 at Stanford University, Paul co-founded National Evaluation Systems (NES) along with Dr. William Gorth to commercialize research into the computer-based educational testing methodologies that they had developed. In the early years, they used Stanford’s mainframe computer to process test results, leveraging the primitive technology available at the time. As NES grew, they opened several offices around the country. By the time NES was bought by Pearson PLC in 2006, they were the leading provider of customized state assessments for teacher certification in the country.

Paul and a group of Stanford PhDs formed a softball team called the Phuds that played together in the Palo Alto Recreation Department for 30 years. Paul organized annual reunions of those men from all over the US. This group of friends was a great source of fun and friendship until the end of his life. Besides softball, Paul had a passion for participating in sports, especially outdoor sports including cycling, hiking, running, backpacking, golf, racquetball and baseball. He was usually the person who organized the adventures for family and friends, always in the west including Alaska. However, outdoor photography was his greatest joy all through his adulthood. He concentrated first on scenery then flowers, animals and birds, sharing his pictures in regular slideshows on Zoom.

Paul was a wonderful father, husband and friend but his greatest pride was his three daughters. After a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease, he is survived by his wife of 57 years, Joanne; three daughters and sons-in-law, Annie (Richard) Christner, Cathy (Tom) Rohloff, and Janie Tillotson (Jason Howell); sister Cherie Pinsky and brother Jim Pinsky; seven grandchildren, Ryan and Devin Christner, Manya, Jack and Leo Rohloff, and Charlotte and Lillian Tillotson. He is predeceased by his sister Pamela Pinsky, parents Charlotte and David Pinsky and son-in-law Paul Tillotson.

The family is having a celebration of his life on June 13, at 4:00pm, at the Woman’s Club of Palo Alto. Please consider a donation in honor of Paul to The Methow Conservancy of Winthrop, Washington, or The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.