Fellows will be sad to learn that Richard Cormack has died at the age of 90.
Richard pioneered the development of mark-recapture theory for estimating survival and published a number of landmark research papers. His work has had a lasting impact in various fields including ecology, genetics and social sciences.
Richard was born on 12 March 1935 and attended Glasgow Academy from the age of 7, obtaining 6 Scottish Highers at the young age of 14. Three years later, he entered directly into the second year at King’s College, Cambridge, intending at the time to be a theoretical astronomer but switching to mathematics, securing first class honours in Special Mathematics from the University of London as an external student in 1954, second class honours in Mathematics from Cambridge in 1955 and a Distinction in the Cambridge Diploma in Mathematical Statistics in 1956. He completed his PhD which was titled ‘Some Problems of Genetic Equilibria’ at Aberdeen (supervised by David Finney), in 1961.
Richard’s introduction to mark-recapture was a study of fulmar survival rates, carried out by George Dunnet. His analyses were published in British Birds in 1963, but it was his paper in Biometrika in 1964, laying out a general framework for estimating survival rates from marked animals, that established his reputation.
His contributions to a wide range of committees, working groups, visiting groups and scientific organisations were substantial. He was elected as a fellow of the RSS in November 1956, was a Council member from 1980–84, a member of the Research Section Committee from 1972–75 and 1986-87, a member of the Honours Committee from 1994–95, as well as an assessor on the Examinations Board from 2000–04. He was also a Council member for NERC and the Freshwater Biological Association. He was elected a member of the ISI in 1962 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1974. He held various roles within the Biometric Society, as Secretary of the British Region from 1970–77, Regional President from 1991–92 and President of the International Society from 1980-81.
Our sincere condolences go out to Richard’s family and friends at this time. A full obituary will be published in a forthcoming edition of our Series A journal.
Image: Richard around the time of his professorship at St. Andrews. Taken from Stephen T. Buckland, 'A Conversation with Richard M. Cormack' (2016), with permission from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.