Ivan Fellegi

After the collapse of the 1956 revolution, while he was a fourth-year mathematics student at ELTE, he left the country for Ottawa, Canada. He soon began working at Statistics Canada (then the Dominion Bureau of Statistics), considered one of the best statistical agencies in the world.

Tanulmányait esti tagozaton 1958-ban fejezte be a Carleton Egyetemen (Ottawa). Elsőként kapta meg az egyetemen a Master of Science fokozatot. 1961-ben befejezte matematikai statisztikai doktori tanulmányait, és elsőként ért el PhD fokozatot is a Carleton-on.

In 1961, he became Director of the Sampling Research and Advisory Branch of Statistics Canada; in 1971, he was appointed Director General to head the Methodology and Systems Division. In 1973, he was promoted to Deputy President, and in 1984, he became Vice President.

On September 1, 1985, with nearly 30 years of experience, he was appointed as the President of Statistics Canada (Chief Statistician of Canada, with the rank of Deputy Minister). He announced his retirement on February 15, 2008.

Between 1999 and 2001, he and his colleagues conducted a review of the Central Statistical Office (KSH), which facilitated the completion of the KSH's necessary work in the field of EU harmonization by 2002. He has performed outstanding activities for decades in order to maintain Canadian-Hungarian professional and scientific relations.

He has been a member of the American Statistical Association since 1965; he is an honorary member of the International Statistical Institute and the Royal Statistical Society. He holds honorary doctorates from Simon Fraser University, McMaster University, Universitè de Montreal, Université de Quebec, Ottawa University, and Carleton University, and is a member of numerous other university and statistical societies.

Among his many awards, the most prominent are: Order of Canada (1992); Officer of the Order of Canada (1998); La Médaille de la Ville de Paris (European Union); Robert Schuman Medal (European Union); Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civilian class) (2004).