Obituary: Former NOP Chief Statistician Paul Harris

Paul Harris, long-time Chief Statistician at NOP, died on Monday 19th November after a five-year battle with cancer. He was 81 years old.

Born in 1936, in Bournemouth on the south coast of England, Harris went on to study at the Central London Polytechnic, and in 1962 he joined the Central Electricity Generating Board, where he focused on power station statistics. He later moved to the MR department at The Electricity Council.

In 1966, he left to join NOP Research (then National Opinion Polls, and now part of GfK), where he spent the next three decades as Chief Statistician. During this time, his interests included sampling methodology and the application of multivariate statistical methods to market research data, as well as the use of computers in statistical analysis. Additionally, he was involved in the design and analysis of segmentation studies, along with trade-off and pricing research. When he eventually left NOP in 1997, he spent the next fifteen years running his own Covent-Garden based statistics consultancy.

In tandem with his working life, Harris was a member of the MRS for more than half a century, serving on many committees and lecturing on various topics for the MRS and other bodies. During his career he also co-authored several books on sampling and statistics, and contributed to the ESOMAR Market Research Handbook. As a Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society, his published works included an MRS Silver Medal paper on the effects of clustering on random sample surveys; and he also received the Society's award for Innovation in Research Methodology, for a joint paper examining the strength and weakness of data fusion techniques - this he co-produced with former BMRB Chairman John O'Brien, and BMRB's former Chief Statistician Ken Baker. In 1996, Harris received an MRS Gold Medal for 'exceptional contributions to market research and the MRS over many years'.

According to his dear friend and former business rival Ken Baker, Paul was a 'bon vivant' with a 'zest for life'. He supported both Bournemouth and Crystal Palace football clubs, and indulged his great passion for real ale through his love of British pubs, where he would always insist on drinking while standing at the bar. He also refused to 'eat inexpensive', and when travelling, he would enjoy fine dining at restaurants with at least one Michelin star. In addition, his enthusiasm for trad jazz was satisfied during his twice-yearly visits to the jazz festival in New Orleans, and it was on one of these trips that he met the great American pianist and rhythm and blues singer-songwriter Fats Domino, with whom he shared a beer.

Pam King, who worked with Harris from 1965 and later ran ARK Research, with occasional help from him, says: 'Paul was such a kindly person with a wonderful knack of explaining things simply yet clearly. I was much indebted to him both in the early days at NOP but particularly when we were ARK and there was no-one to ask about things statistical. He always took the time to listen to my problem and invariably came up with a solution'.

Paul outlived his much-loved wife Linda, who he married in the early 1960s, and who died from cancer in 2001. He is survived by his sister-in-law Julie Rose and her partner Stewart, who both supported him in his later years.

His funeral will take place next Monday at 12.40pm, at the Barham Crematorium, Barham, Canterbury, CT4 6QU. A reception will be held afterwards at The Royal Hotel, Beach Street, Deal, CT14 6JD. Please contact corrine.moy@gfk.com if you plan to attend.

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