Daniel Byk passed away on February 8, 2018. He was aged 70 and was elected ISI member in 1998.
Daniel was alumni of the school of statistics managed by the French National Statistical Institute (INSEE) but he had very quickly decided to pass the exam for being recruited in the European public service. So he did most of his career at Eurostat.
One of the most striking aspects of his work at Eurostat has been his leadership in statistical capacity building in developing countries, and particularly in sub-Saharan African countries. In his capacity as Head of the Statistical Cooperation Unit with the ACP countries, he played an important role in setting up the COMSTAT program (Community Support for Statistical Training), which covered both Anglophone and Francophone statistical training centers. It also actively participated in the biennial meetings of Centers participating in the Statistical Training Program (STPA) set up in the late 1970s by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa with the support of UNDP. At the same time he was secretary of the Board of the European Training Center for Statisticians from developing countries in Paris (known as CESD-Paris). In this capacity, he organized the transfer of training of statisticians-economists to the Abidjan school, so that the basic training of African
statisticians would be provided entirely in Africa. Daniel had also pleaded for the construction of a network of training institutions in several European capitals. In particular, he was behind the creation of a "CESD - Lisbon", the first training center for statisticians for Portuguese-speaking countries.
At the end of his career, Daniel was detached to the Luxembourg government where he continued his mission of adviser for statistical cooperation. It had also set up a training mechanism for African statisticians in communication and media relations.
The memory of Daniel Byk will no doubt remain long lived in sub-Saharan Africa.
