Ivan Peter Fellegi, ( hu, Fellegi Péter Iván; born June 22, 1935) is a Hungarian-

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

statistician and was the

Chief Statistician of Canada The chief statistician of Canada (french: statisticien en chef du Canada) is the senior Civil service, public servant responsible for Statistics Canada (StatCan), an agency of the Government of Canada. The office is equivalent to that of a Deputy m ...

from 1985 to 2008. Born in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, Fellegi was in his third year of studying mathematics at the Eötvös Loránd University, when the Hungarian uprising was crushed in 1956. He arrived in Ottawa,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, that year and soon began working for Statistics Canada (then known as the

Dominion Bureau of Statistics The Dominion Bureau of Statistics was a Canadian government organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -i ...

), which is widely regarded as one of the best statistical agencies in the world. He completed his studies with night courses at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

. In 1958 he was the first Carleton University student to receive a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree. Upon completing his doctoral studies in mathematical statistics in 1961, he became Carleton's first

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

graduate. In 1961 he was appointed Director of Sampling Research and Consultation staff, and Director General of the Methodology and systems Branch in 1971. He was promoted to Assistant Chief Statistician in 1973, and became Deputy Chief Statistician in 1984. On September 1, 1985, with close to 30 years experience, Fellegi was appointed

. He announced his retirement as Chief Statistician on February 15, 2008. In 1965 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 ...

.View/Search Fellows of the ASA
, accessed 2016-08-20. In 1992, he was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

and was promoted to Officer in 1998. He is an honorary member of the International Statistical Institute and an honorary Fellow 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. ...

. He provided advice on statistical matters to his native Hungary following its transition to democracy, and in 2004 he was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit ( hu, Magyar Érdemrend) is the fourth highest State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the O ...

References

A newspaper profile from the Statistics Canada website

Characteristics of an Effective Statistical System

Carleton University Alumni

* ttp://www.utpress.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/cw2w3.cgi?p=faucher&t=48660&d=1661 Canadian Who's Who 1997* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fellegi, Ivan 1935 births Living people Canadian civil servants Hungarian emigrants to Canada Officers of the Order of Canada Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary Canadian statisticians Hungarian statisticians Canadian people of Hungarian descent Presidents of the Statistical Society of Canada Presidents of the International Statistical Institute Carleton University alumni People from Szeged Fellows of the American Statistical Association