Howard Schuman died Sunday, April 18, 2021, in Maine, where he lived for 26 years. He was 93 and had been married to Josephine Miles Schuman ‘53 for 70 years until she died the month before him. They are survived by their three children, Marc, Elisabeth, and Wade.
Howard was a professor in the University of Michigan sociology department for 32 years and directed the Michigan Survey Research Center from 1982-1990. An Honorary Life Member of AAPOR, Howard served as POQ editor (1986-1993) and AAPOR president (1986-1987). His research, much of it in collaboration with other AAPOR members, has had an enduring influence. One of his books, Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context, co-authored with Stanley Presser, is on AAPOR’s 1995 list of “50 Books that Have Shaped Public Opinion Research.”
Another of his books, Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations, co-authored with Charlotte Steeh, Lawrence Bobo, and Maria Krysan, won the AAPOR Book Award in 2005. He worked almost to the end, co-authoring the book Generations and Collective Memory with Amy Corning when he was 87.