Mike Titterington (1945-2023)
Most sadly, I just heard from Glasgow that my friend and coauthor Mike Titterington passed away last weekend. While a significant figure in the field and a precursor in many ways, from mixtures to machine learning, Mike was one of the kindest persons ever, tolerant to a fault and generous with his time, and I enjoyed very much my yearly visits to Glasgow to work with him (and elope to the hills). This was also the time he was the (sole) editor of Biometrika and to this day I remain amazed at the amount of effort he dedicated to it, annotating every single accepted paper with his red pen during his morning bus commute and having the edited copy mailed to the author(s). The last time I saw him was in October 2019, when I was visiting the University of Edinburgh and the newly created Bayes Centre, and he came to meet me for an afternoon tea, despite being in poor health… Thank you for all these years, Mike!
July 4, 2023 at 3:43 pm
I am saddened by the news. Mike was a most kind gentleman and a most humble statistician despite his many significant achievements. His editorship of Biometrika continued the fine tradition and professionalism set by his predecessor, Sir David Cox. It was my honour and privilege to have worked as one of his associate editors.
May 5, 2023 at 4:13 pm
I was very sorry to hear this news, Christian. Mike was most definitely one of the kindest people that you could possibly meet. He was a very supportive colleague when I began lecturing in Glasgow. Of course, we all looked up to him and admired his many achievements — yet he was so humble and generous with his time. He very much led by example.
May 5, 2023 at 5:14 pm
Thank you Nial, he was indeed unique in many respects.