New Zealand Statistical Association 2024 Conference

David Harte – A brief personal tribute to David Vere-Jones

Statistics Research Associates, Wellington

David Vere-Jones – a brief personal tribute

David Vere-Jones died recently, on 31 October 2024. This is a brief personal tribute to David, who played an enormous role in Statistics, not only in NZ but internationally too. No doubt, much fuller summaries of his academic and personal achievements will appear in due course.

David Vere-Jones was President of the New Zealand Statistical Association from 1981 to 1983 inclusive, and was awarded the prestigious Vaughan Jones Medal for 2014 by the Royal Society of New Zealand. A profile of David was published in the December 2014 Newsletter (issue 122) of the New Zealand Mathematical Society (NZMS), an organisation that David helped to found in 1974:

NZMS Profile 122, December 2014 — David Vere-Jones

The NZMS also published an earlier profile of David in August 1982 (in Newsletter 24), which recognised his election that year as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.