It is with great sadness I share news of the passing of former U.S. Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson, who was a member of the Census Bureau family for over 30 years and played a critical role in two of this century’s censuses.

At his 2013 Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Thompson said, “My goal will be to leave a legacy of innovation in all areas and in all levels of the Census Bureau and to design a 2020 Census that represents a fundamental change for the future.” That statement perfectly encapsulates his commitment to innovation and modernization.

John Thompson, Director, U.S. Census Bureau

John first came to the Census Bureau in 1975. Over the next few decades, he served in many different roles — in the Statistical Methods, Statistical Support, Decennial Studies, and Decennial Management Divisions, and then as the associate director for decennial census programs. As the senior career executive responsible for all aspects of the 2000 Census, he helped pioneer the use of state-of-the-art technology in optical scanning and intelligent character recognition. This allowed the Census Bureau to capture all the information from census questionnaires, including handwritten items, and convert them into computer processed data.

John Thompson being sworn in as the 36th director of the Census Bureau by Kevin Mahoney, as Angela Manso witnesses.

In 2002, he went to work for the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, becoming president and CEO in 2008. But ultimately, the Census Bureau called him back home. In 2013, President Obama nominated Mr. Thompson to lead the Census Bureau, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. He was sworn in as director on August 8, 2013.

As director, his vision for innovation and transformation shone through once again. He guided preparations for the 2020 Census, which became our nation’s most automated and technically advanced ever. With his decades of experience as a public servant, he understood the importance of our agency’s organizational health and made it a priority.

Even beyond the Census Bureau, Mr. Thompson was a longtime leader in social science research. He was an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association and past chair of its Social Statistics Section and Committee on Fellows. He served on the Committee on National Statistics at the National Academy of Sciences and was a member of its Panel on the Design of the 2010 Census Program of Evaluations and Experiments and Panel to Review the 2010 Census.

I feel privileged to have known and worked with John. We mourn the loss of this Census Bureau leader, whose legacy of transformation continues to this day. We share our sorrow at his passing with his wife, Bonnie, and all his friends and family.