DENIS CONNIFFE: DENIS CONNIFFE, who has died aged 69, was an economist and statistician. A former assistant director of the Agricultural Research Institute (now Teagasc) and deputy director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), he also held posts at NUI Maynooth and University College Dublin.
His research interests included consumer demand, utility, risk, econometric theory, statistical inference and extreme value theory.
His internationally published research output was extensive, and included articles in Biometrika, The Review of Economic Studiesand Journal of Econometrics.Closer to home his work regularly appeared in the Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland and Economic and Social Review.
President of the Irish Economic Association (2002-2004), he will be remembered not only for his formal contributions to conference proceedings, but also for extensive, incisive and always constructive contributions to discussion of conference papers.
He also was president of the Irish Statistical Association, thus continuing the tradition of distinguished Irish scholars such as Francis Ysidro Edgeworth and Roy Geary, who have combined economics, mathematics and statistics.
Colleagues held him in high esteem, and remember him as an “outstanding” and “towering” figure. Frances Ruane of the ESRI said: “As a scholar he was driven by intellectual curiosity, which was reflected in everything he did.”
Cormac Ó Gráda described him as a “wonderful colleague, brilliant, supportive, modest, fun”. And a student Rob Gillander said: “He was the kind of gentleman scholar that I would like to be one day.”
Former colleague Alan Barrett said that as a Dublin northsider he took a certain pride in the fact that Denis Conniffe was “one of us”.
Born in Dublin in 1942, he was the only child of Patrick Joseph and Brigid Conniffe and the family lived in Whitehall. He was educated at Larkhill national school and O’Connell’s Schools.
He later studied mathematical science at University College Dublin and secured a BSc in 1962 and an MSc in 1963. He conducted doctoral studies at the University of Aberdeen; his degree was finally awarded by TCD in 1974 as he had returned to Dublin to take up a job.
In 1964 he joined the Agricultural Research Institute where he applied his vast knowledge of statistics to practical research questions in farming. He also revolutionised experimental design in the institute and laid the basis for high-quality field research.
He joined the ESRI in 1980 where he became a research professor and later deputy director. He worked on topics such as energy demand and alcohol consumption.
Conniffe continued a strong interest and research output in economics, econometrics and statistics, in 2004 becoming research professor in the department of economics, finance and accounting at NUI Maynooth. In 2008 he took up a similar post in UCD School of Economics where he worked until his death.
He also taught statistics and econometrics in TCD and held visiting professorships in Queen’s University Belfast, NUI Maynooth and Edinburgh University.
He made a huge contribution through teaching and through supervising PhD students.
He could explain complex statistical methods in a way that made complete sense, while at the same time enlivening his subject. He was very generous with his time, explaining concepts and answering questions.
He was instrumental in having a plaque commemorating FY Edgeworth erected in the Church of Ireland at Edgeworthstown and in organising a meeting of the Irish Statistical Society locally to mark the event. Last year his article on Edgeworth was published in History Ireland.
A black belt in judo, he also played chess.
He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of local history and was interested in ancient Celtic rituals. Saturday afternoons were reserved for hill walking, and he enjoyed a pint in his local pub.
On his travels he enjoyed visiting sites of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars.
A devoted family man, he took great pride in his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife Jean, sons Derek, John and Brian and grandchildren Harvey, Jasper, Zoe and Len.
Denis Conniffe: born January 10th, 1942; died January 20th, 2011