Rolf Heinrich Stumpf (6 November 1945 – 27 October 2020) was a South African

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

who served as Vice Chancellor and Rector of the

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. He was a member of the

Academy of Science of South Africa The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) is the national science academy in South Africa. It was started in 1996, and encompasses all fields of scientific work. Its legal foundation is the ''Academy of Science of South Africa Act'', Act 67 ...

and served on the Council of the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

Biography

Stumpf was born on 6 November 1945 in

Vryheid Vryheid ( zu, IVryheid) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom". History After Boer farmers, who lived in the Vryheid area, had helped King Dinuzulu defeat his ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. Stumpf's career spanned various positions in academia, the research environment, and in the higher education policy environment, including serving as Deputy Director General of the Department of National Education and President of the

Human Sciences Research Council The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa is Africa's largest dedicated social science and humanities research agency and policy think tank. It primarily conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific projects for publi ...

. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chancellor and Rector of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University he was Vice-Rector (Teaching) at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

until 2002. Stumpf served as a member of the Council on Higher Education, Chair of the Higher Education Quality Committee, and as a trustee of the Centre for Higher Education Transformation.

Education

Stumpf studied Mathematics and Statistics at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

, and graduated in 1972 with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

cum laude. In 1974, he graduated with a diploma in Theology at the Baptist College in Johannesburg. In 1982, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Statistics (Analysis of Qualitative Data) from the

Publications

The author of a number of scientific articles in the field of statistics, Stumpf served as the co-author of a book on Graphical Exploratory Data Analysis. He also authored and co-authored a large number of policy reports in the field of higher education and in vocational education.

Death

Stumpf died on the morning of Tuesday 27 October 2020. He was 74. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

References

*http://whoswho.co.za/rolf-stumpf-1511 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stumpf, Rolf 1945 births 2020 deaths University of Pretoria alumni Academic staff of Nelson Mandela University University of South Africa alumni People from Vryheid