Obituary: Cliff Holmes

UK research veteran Cliff Holmes died on Tuesday night at the age of 76, after a short battle with cancer.

His wife Pat said that he was in no pain and that he had fought the illness until the end.

Holmes was born in Doncaster and grew up in Wakefield, where he attended Wakefield Grammar School. One of his earliest jobs was as a Statistician for the national Premium Bonds company. Later in his career he held numerous senior posts, including that of Head of Group Sampling and Statistics at Synovate (previously Pegram Walters); Deputy MD of Marplan; Director of BDL; and a Director at ORC/GSR, where he established a new product research company called NOW Research.

In 2007, he was appointed a non-executive Director of specialist media agency Essential Research, where he provided statistical, sampling and advanced analytics expertise and training, as well as help with company strategy and growth. Latterly, he ran his own consultancy Cliff Holmes Research, which offered expertise in survey and sample design, advanced analytics and other statistical techniques. He also provided training sessions for market and social researchers in basic and advanced statistics.

Holmes was a Fellow of the Market Research Society, and his chapter on Multivariate Analysis in the Consumer Market Research Handbook is considered by many to be the definitive text on the subject.

Johnny Caldwell, Client Services Director at brand tracking agency Nepa describes Holmes as 'one of life's most likeable characters' and as 'a rare intellect whose selfless mentoring influenced generations across the industry'.

Quantime founder Ed Ross adds: 'Cliff will be remembered both as a great professional and a great character. There have been few like him, and alas in future there will probably be fewer still.'

Outside work, one of Holmes's great loves was the theatre, and he was a member of several different amateur dramatic groups over the years. He enjoyed playing cricket in his younger days, which he still followed with interest in more recent times, along with football and rugby - from the comfort of his armchair. In addition, he enjoyed listening to jazz, was interested in art, and a keen poet.

Holmes is survived by his wife Pat and daughter Miranda. His funeral will take place next Thursday 24th January at 10am at Hendon Crematorium and the wake will be held at Finchley Golf Club, Frith lane, NW7 (if you plan to attend the latter, please RSVP to john@yuka.co.uk to enable the family to gauge numbers). Donations in Cliff's name can be made to North London Hospice in lieu of flowers. www.northlondonhospice.org/what-we-do/contact+us/index .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.