John Joseph Deely (January 13, 1933 - January 17, 2025) was an American-born statistician and educator who specialized in Bayesian statistics, specifically empirical Bayes methods and decision theory. He spent nearly three decades at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where he served as the chair of the statistics department, before returning to Purdue University for the latter portion of his career.
Deely transitioned to study mathematics and statistics at Purdue University, where he completed an M.S. in Mathematics in 1958 and a Ph.D. in Statistics in 1965 under the supervision of Shanti S. Gupta.[5] His doctoral thesis was titled Multiple Decision Procedures from an Empirical Bayes Approach.[7]
Academic career
After earning his doctorate, Deely worked as a staff member in the Statistical Research Division of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 1965 to 1968.[6] In 1969, he relocated to New Zealand to join the faculty of the University of Canterbury as a senior lecturer. He was promoted to Reader in 1970 and became a full professor and chair of the department of statistics in 1972.[5]
During his 28-year tenure at Canterbury, Deely is credited with significantly expanding the statistics program from a single course into a robust department with eight specialized courses and a strong postgraduate research culture.[4] He supervised eight Ph.D. students and sixteen M.Sc. students during this period.[6]
In 1997, due to the compulsory retirement laws in New Zealand at the time, Deely returned to the United States and joined Purdue University as a visiting professor. In 2000, he became a continuing lecturer, a role he held until his retirement at the age of 85.[4] At Purdue, he became well known for teaching "Statistics and Society" (STAT 113), an introductory course for non-statistics majors, which he estimated to have taught to over 8,000 students.[6]
Contributions to statistics
Deely's research focused on the application of Bayesian methods to practical decision-making. His work often involved Bayesian hierarchical modeling and ranking and selection procedures.[8]
He was an active member of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (IBSA). He was noted within the community for his sense of humor, particularly for his "Deely Awards," which he presented at ISBA banquets to recognize humorous or unusual aspects of academic presentations.[9]
Personal life
Deely was a dual citizen of the United States and New Zealand.[6] Deely was married to Elizabeth "Ann" Young for 35 years. He had six children from his first marriage to Anola.[10] He died at his home in West Lafayette, Indiana on January 17, 2025, aged 92.[4]
References
↑"People: Erskine Fellowship"(PDF). University of Canterbury Chronicle. Vol.30, no.6. University of Canterbury. 1995-04-27. p.2. Retrieved 2026-02-07.
↑"ANNOUNCEMENTS - International Society for Bayesian Analysis"(PDF). ISBA. 1994. Retrieved 2026-02-06. John Deely, Head, Department of Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ, was the Banquet Speaker at the ISBA meeting in Toronto, August 1994. After many sage and witty remarks, he made awards to the following ISBA members for their outstanding contributions to the meeting: John Geweke, Wolfgang Polasek, Kate Cowles, Teddy Seidenfeld, Ed George, Susie Bayarri, Mike Evans, Jim Dickey, and Joe Eaton. After giving each a flower, John Deely added to the festivities with his delightful comments for each award recipient. Here are a few of the gems: "Best first transpancy [sic], making the rest of the talk redundant." "Most perspiring talk in a foreign language." "Speaking the fastest but giving no few [sic] information." "Most sensuous talk as indicated by his use of "fractile" statistics." "Had 2000 iterations in a Gibbs Sampler and discarded the first 2500." It was unanimously agreed that Deely Awards would be made at future ISBA meetings.
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