James Pickands

James Pickands III (September 4, 1931 – March 9, 2022) was an American mathematical statistician known for his contribution to extreme value theory and stochastic processes.

Pickands was born in Euclid, Ohio to James Pickands II and Sarah Cornelia Martin. He studied at Yale University, where he obtained his bachelor's degree. He then moved to Columbia University, where he received his PhD under Simeon Berman in 1965. While at Columbia, Pickands also worked with Emil Gumbel, and developed interests in extreme value theory.

Pickands served in the US Army in Aberdeen, Maryland after graduating from Columbia university. He briefly taught at Virginia Tech as an assistant professor before joining the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1969 as an associate professor, where he stayed for the rest of his career.

Pickands had three doctoral students, including Bruce Cooil.

Pickands's great-grandfather James S. Pickands (1839–1896) is a cofounder of the American shipping company Pickands Mather Group.