Thecollectedcontributionscontainedwithinthisbookhavebeenwrittenbyfriends andcolleaguestoacknowledgeLudwigFahrmeir'swidespreadandimportantimpact onStatisticsasascience,whilecelebratinghis65thBirthday. Asayoungstudent,LudwigstartedhiscareerasaMathematician,buthequickly turnedintoarisingandshiningstarwithintheGermanandinternationalStatistics community. HesoonobtainedbothhisPhDandhisHabilitationattheTechnical UniversityofMunich. AfterashortperiodasavisitingprofessorattheUniversity ofDortmund,hereturnedtohishomelandBavariaandwasappointedFullProfessor ofStatisticsattheUniversityofRegensburg,attheageof32. Someyearslater,hemovedtothecapitalofBavariaandbecameProfessoratthe DepartmentofStatisticsattheUniversityofMunich. Hisappointmenthadsigni?cant impactontheDepartmentsince,soonafterhisarrival,Ludwigstartedaninitiative toestablishacollaborativeresearchcenteronthe StatisticalAnalysisofDiscrete Structures. Afterasuccessfulapplicationforinitialfunding,furtherfundingwas extendedseveraltimes,untiltheresearchcenterreachedthemaximumperiodfor fundingin2006. Duringthecompleteduration,Ludwigservedasaspeakerofthe researchcenterand-tociteoneofthe?nalreferees- manageditinaneasyand ef?cientwayandcontributedseveralimportantresults.
Duringthelastfortyyears,Ludwig'sworkhashadtremendousimpactontheS- tisticscommunity. Hewasamongthe?rstresearcherstorecognizetheimportance ofgeneralizedlinearmodelsandcontributedinaseriesofpaperstothetheoretical backgroundofthatmodelclass…