Obituary: Norman Glass, CEO of NatCen

In the UK, Norman Glass, the CEO of social and academic institute the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), died at home last Saturday, following several months of illness. He is survived by his wife Marie-Anne and their two children Jerome and Sophie.

Glass began his career at the Department of Health and Social Security, where he undertook economic analysis that led to reforms of the Social Security system. He then took up the post of Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health, where he led the prime ministerial task force on Birmingham Children's Hospital crisis and promoted the Great Ormond Street redevelopment.

In 1989, he moved to the Department of Social Security as CEO, before becoming Chief Economist at the Department of the Environment. From 1995, Glass was Deputy Director of Public Services at HM Treasury and Chief Micro-Economist.

Glass joined NatCen in 2000, and during his tenure the firm's revenues nearly doubled to around £40m. The institute said he was incredibly proud when NatCen won the Understanding Society project - a longitudinal study designed to enhance understanding of life in the UK, and also helped to establish Longview, a think tank set up to promote longitudinal studies.

He was also responsible for establishing the Scottish Centre for Social Research in 2004; NatCen Learning in 2006, and a recent partnership with the London School of Economics.

The firm said he will be remembered by colleagues as 'dynamic, intelligent and very funny, often displaying a cheeky and irreverent sense of humour'.

Yesterday, NatCen announced the appointment of BBC Head of Audiences Penny Young as its new CEO.