NEWS

HELLO, my name is Michael Luxenberg

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York.

What was your very first job? I was a “pot washer,” cleaning large cooking pots for a day camp on Long Island.

What attracted you to Minnesota? I came here for graduate study in the psychology department, specializing in behavioral genetics. I minored in statistics and genetics. The doctoral program at the University of Minnesota was the only human behavioral genetics program in this country at that time. Specifically, I was interested in doing a twin study in order to explore the effects of nature vs. nurture. I had left my first career as an electrical engineer to study psychology in a master’s program at Indiana State, and came to Minnesota for my Ph.D.

Who inspired your interest in psychology and statistics? When I was an electrical engineering student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, I elected to take an intro psychology course taught by Sheldon Litt, a psychologist who had conducted a twin study. I decided to follow in his footsteps. While getting my engineering degree, I took psychology courses wherever I could. I gave myself two years to work as an engineer to earn some money and see the world before applying to graduate school.

How and when did you meet your wife, UMRA member Joan Garfield? Joan and I took some statistics and measurement classes together at the U of M when she was in Ed Psych, and I was in Psych. We got to know each other taking the campus bus together from the Minneapolis campus to the St. Paul campus. We got married on August 17, 1980, when we were both in grad school. 

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? I was the president and CEO of Professional Data Analysts until I retired in 2015. I also was a founding partner and still am a limited partner at Damarco Solutions, LLC.

PDA, the company you created in 1984, is still going strong, now under the leadership of your son. What does it do? PDA is a full-service program evaluation firm in Minneapolis, skilled in all aspects of evaluation, data collection, and statistical analysis. PDA is dedicated to helping health initiatives succeed with sound, effective data-centric solutions. The company specializes in evaluating public health programs—in particular, tobacco cessation programs across the U.S.

Damarco Solutions, LLC, is a privately held company that provides online occupational safety and health services. Damarco was started in Minnesota in 1999 by a group of individuals with a foundation of knowledge in health care, poison control, and technology.

You recently agreed to be the co-leader of the UMRA Hiking Club. Thank you! What do you appreciate the most about hiking? I enjoy being part of the community of hikers. I am in three other hiking groups in the Twin Cities: the Twin Cities Hiking Meetup, the American Pilgrims for the Camino, and the local Sierra Club hiking group. I also have hiked internationally in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, England, Ireland, Scotland and Canada.

What is a fun fact about you we might not know? When I was in my 20s, I lived on a commune in Germany working for a farmer who agreed to let us live on his land in exchange for labor. My main job was collecting goose eggs from many hundreds of geese.


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News

If you or someone you know would be a good candidate for president-elect or a position on the UMRA Board of Directors, please contact one of the eight members of UMRA’s 2025 Nominating Committee. 

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Meet Michael Luxenberg, the new co-leader of the UMRA Hiking Club. A retired data analyst and entrepreneur, he met his wife, UMRA member and Professor Emerita Joan Garfield, when both were grad students at the U of M and rode the campus bus from Minneapolis to St. Paul.

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Former President Jimmy Carter’s version of “retirement” was remarkable. What if all U of M retirees started the new year stepping up our efforts to make the world better?

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The UMRA-sponsored Journal of Opinions, Ideas & Essays has added three videos to its online collection of original publications by UMRA members. 

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