From his obituary:
Keith worked in landscaping throughout his undergraduate years at the University of Toronto, then at Moore Business Forms, and in the western and northern provinces and territories in the field of compressed air before returning to UofT to complete and MBA and undertake an MSc. For many years he worked as a biostatistician at the Toronto General Hospital and the Ottawa Hospital on numerous studies in the fields of cancer, diabetes, SARS and infectious diseases research before completing a PhD at Oxford University in 2004. Having worked at Duke University, McGill and Queen’s, he joined Health Canada in the late 2000’s as a biostatistician, initially in health care and then in pesticide management. A conscientious intellectual and deep-thinker, Keith endeavoured to make our world a better and safer place.
Longtime readers of this blog will recognize Keith for his occasional posts and many comments and his idealistic and skeptical take on medical statistics. We’re all sorry to hear that he is gone.
Indeed, I always enjoyed reading his comments and posts – very thoughtful and thought-provoking. RIP Keith!
Your friend lived well and will be missed.
Super sad.
This is very sad. Can you post the link to his obituary?
I am so sad to hear this.
RIP:
https://necrocanada.com/obituaries-2022/keith-orourke-november-27-2022/
I’m sorry to hear this. Thank you for posting the news, and sharing the biographical snippet. It sounds like he led a meaningful and interesting life.
Agreed
Oh, I really enjoyed his contributions here. I’m so sorry to hear this.
I’m sad to hear this. Glad he could share some time with us here.
Sad. There’s something about blogs that makes one feel things will be permanent.
Damn it. I literally was just thinking the other day that I hadnt heard from Keith on the blog in a while. He will be much missed… I owe him for my love of zombie models.
Wow, I always appreciated Keith’s comments. The blog will be a little more empty without him.
Very sad news.
There is a recent video of him talking about the logic of statistics: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FqE4ROHBKpY
A sad loss, condolences to his family.
His contributions here on meta-analysis were always very enjoyable and stimulating, and he responded to me very quickly on ResearchGate when I had questions about his work.
This very sad news. I will miss his posts and comments on the blog.
OMG, this is sad news indeed. Keith was a wonderful colleague, smart, insightful, and generous with input both here and in e-mailings, and we’ll miss him. I met him and his lovely wife in person once when lecturing in Montreal a few years ago. He seemed quite healthy and vital despite his white hair and beard, so I am most curious what he died of.
Very sad news, he will be missed…
We are all saying the same thing, but what else is there to say? I only knew Keith through his comments on this blog, and wouldn’t have recognized him if I had passed him on the street, but find that I have a surprisingly profound sense of loss.
What I have learned from his posts here on this blog, and what I will keep trying to share with students:
– Data are like shadows of hidden objects. Sometimes they look like monsters even when what is behind them are merely mice.
– Mathematical models are necessary as an abstraction that allows for replication of an otherwise unrepeatable set of observations.
Thank you Dr. O’Rourke.
Only know Keith through his posts here. His contributions will be missed!
I enjoyed reading his posts and contributions here. May he rest in peace.
I guess I’ve been out of the loop because I didn’t know he had passed away until yesterday. For several years prior to the pandemic Keith and I would get together for lunch every few months; I regarded him as a friend and mentor and I will profoundly miss his wry sense of humor and keen insight.
Keith took his own life, if we had only known