Rob Kempton

Statistician and biometrician with a Scholar Gipsy side

Rodney Alistair Kempton (Rob Kempton), statistician and biometrician: born Isleworth, Middlesex 2 July 1946; Statistician, Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1970-76; Head of Statistics Department, Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge, 1976-86; Director, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland 1987-2003; Vice-President and President-elect, International Biometric Society 2003; married 1972 Annelise Sørensen (two sons, one daughter); died near Hutton-le-Hole, North Yorkshire 11 May 2003.

Rob Kempton was a distinguished statistician and biometrician whose professional activities were in tune with his environmental concerns and sense of social justice.

He died at the height of his powers. Director of Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) since its inception in 1987, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1999 and President-elect of the International Biometric Society (IBS). He also served on many committees and review groups, most recently for the Food Standards Agency. Throughout his career he made important contributions to experimental and sampling design in the biological sciences, his latest work focusing on the assessment of potential health risks from food.

His career in statistics began at Rothamsted Experimental Station, Hertfordshire, in 1970. Inspired by the pioneering work of R.A. Fisher, he was soon involved in ground-breaking research that bore fruit in a number of influential papers in leading ecological and statistical journals. Always eager to collaborate, he set the pattern for a successful liaison scheme whereby a statistician was attached to a particular department.

In 1976 he went to Cambridge to head the Statistics Department at the Plant Breeding Institute. Combining the practical concerns of plant breeders with the study of fundamental aspects of plant genetics and pathology, the PBI was at that time an exciting place. Kempton advised on the planning of large-scale field experiments to develop new crop varieties, while producing a stream of innovative, incisively written papers. In 1986 his talents as a scientist, manager and co-ordinator secured him further promotion, and he moved to Edinburgh to develop what became BioSS. Its work under his direction flourished and secured both national and international recognition.

The development of the Sub- Saharan Africa Network of the IBS was among the activities closest to Kempton's heart, having profound implications for health improvement and food supplies. He made contacts all over the continent, worked tirelessly to generate funding, and was an assiduous and lively participant in network conferences. Later he helped to create a similar network in the Caribbean.

All who worked with Kempton speak with great affection of his spontaneous warmth, good-humour, and conviviality. A great confidence booster, he focused on people's strengths rather than their weaknesses and had a genius for bringing out the best in them. These personal traits were combined with rigorous professional standards, a tough-minded determination to achieve what he had set out to do, and diplomatic skills of a high order. A colleague has written of Kempton's ability to "crawl round a problem" until it was solved.

A product of Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, he read Mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford, and went on to take a BPhil in Applied Statistics. With a wild shock of hair, and clad in old tweeds and corduroys, he cut a slightly eccentric figure as a student, especially when mounted on his ancient, rusty bicycle. He often referred to his mother and other members of his family, talking affectionately of his home in Kent and reminiscing about happy childhood days at Three Mile Cross near Reading.

Books had obviously been an important part of his background. An avid reader of poetry and novels, usually in good editions purchased from second-hand bookshops, he saw Oxford very much through literary eyes - Matthew Arnold, Lewis Carroll, John Betjeman. Another influence was Samuel Palmer, whose visionary paintings and drawings he sought out in the Print Room of the Ashmolean Museum. He even tramped the villages round Oxford in the manner of the Scholar Gipsy.

Yet he was by no means a solitary, and amongst other activities helped to form a college literary society - adroitly securing the presence of the legendary Warden Maurice Bowra at the inaugural meeting. Bell- ringing, with its combination of musical and mathematical qualities, was another of his enthusiasms. But above all at Oxford he demonstrated the talent for friendship that characterised him throughout his life.

As time went on, Rob Kempton's youthful idealism matured into a practical concern for others and a firm, albeit understated, commitment to environmental and humanitarian issues. Undoubtedly important in the process was the influence of Annelise Sørensen, whom he met at Rothamsted and married in 1972. Her quiet steadiness complemented his exuberance.

By the time they arrived in Edinburgh they had young children - Emily, the eldest, and twins William and Benjamin - and this led to their commitment to the Woodcraft Folk, a movement for young people dedicated to the ideals of equality, friendship and peace. After the children had grown up, for Rob and Annelise as for the other parents there was life after Woodcraft in the form of hill walking and other outdoor pursuits.

Over the years Rob had developed a keen interest in the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson and was building up an excellent collection of his works. He was even planning to spend his retirement rebinding decayed volumes. But retirement, still some way off, was not uppermost in his thoughts. He remained committed, lively, and professionally active.

Martin Ingram