David Holt CB (29 October 1943 – 15 November 2022) was a British

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 w ...

who was

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of Social Statistics at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

. He had been the president of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

(2005–2007), the last director of the Central Statistical Office of the United Kingdom, and the first director of the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

(and ex-officio

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Background

Holt took a maths degree and a PhD in statistics at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

with thesis titled ''Some contributions to the statistical analysis of single and mixed exponential distributions'' in 1970. Throughout his career, his main interests have been survey methods, sampling theory and official statistics. He took a particular interest, through his membership of the

, in the independence of national statistics from government.

Career

Holt's first job was with

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, the national statistics office of Canada, where he spent four years before joining the Department of Social Statistics at the

in 1980. He was Leverhulme Professor of Social Statistics from 1980 to 1995 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 1990 to 1995. From 1989 to 1991, he was also vice-president of the International Association of Survey Statisticians (IASS). Holt became the Director of the Central Statistical Office and Head of the Government Statistical Service in 1995 and, subsequently, the first Director of the

when it was formed on 1 April 1996 from the merger of the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Of ...

(OPCS). He was President of the Labour Statistics Congress (

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) in 1997 and vice-chair of the

United Nations Statistical Commission The United Nations Statistical Commission (StatCom) is a Functional Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, established in 1947. The Statistical Commission oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). I ...

from 1998 to 1999. Holt returned to the Department of Social Statistics at

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in 2000, working part-time as Professor of Social Statistics. He carried out consultancy work for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

, the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

and the

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and was elected president of the

in 2005.

Awards and honours

In 1990 he was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The number of new fellows per year is limited ...

. Holt was appointed a

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(CB) in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various ...

. He was also the 2003 recipient of the Waksberg Prize in survey methodology.

Personal life and death

Holt died on 15 November 2022, at the age of 79.

References

''"Professor Tim Holt: Career"''
Museum of Learning. Retrieved 20 May 2010. *Tim Holt, Julian Champkin (2007). ''"Tim Holt"'', ''Significance'', vol 4 issue 2, pp 75–76. {{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Tim 1943 births 2022 deaths Directors of the Central Statistical Office (United Kingdom) Registrars-General for England and Wales Directors of the Office for National Statistics Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society Survey methodologists Academics of the University of Southampton British social scientists 20th-century British mathematicians 21st-century British mathematicians Fellows of the American Statistical Association Companions of the Order of the Bath