Joyce Snell (1930-2024)

Celebrating the life of Joyce Snell.

Many people will be sad to hear that Joyce Snell passed away in February of this year at the age of 93. After an early career in industry, Joyce taught in the Statistics section of the Mathematics Department at Imperial from the mid-1960s until she retired in 1995. Apart from excelling at teaching, she had a distinguished career as a very talented applied statistician and administrator. She was well known to generations of students including her own tutees and to those who encountered her in her role of Mathematics Admissions Tutor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Joyce will be missed by all who knew her, but she will be remembered with great affection.

Apart from being an inspiring and sympathetic teacher, Joyce made significant contributions to the Royal Statistical Society, and to Statistics in general through her research and other scholarly activities. She published journal articles and books with several well-known statistical colleagues, but special mention must be made of David Cox, one-time Head of Mathematics at Imperial whose statistical research was world-famous. Sadly, he too has passed away.

In those days, the Statistics section was much smaller, typically 9 or 10 people. Four of us were women which was unusual for the time. Joyce, of course, was one of them. She was renowned for the clip-clopping of her heels along the corridors of Huxley. Apart from myself, the other two were Agnes Herzberg and Ann Mitchell. 

Throughout her life, Joyce was a fan of tennis and at one time played to a high level. She and her husband John enjoyed playing bridge in Harpenden where they lived, and spending part of each year in Portugal when they retired. Their daughter Jane, a GP, together with Jane's husband and three granddaughters (all with names beginning with J) added enormous interest and pleasure to their lives.

I knew Joyce from 1969 when I was a postgraduate student in the Statistics section. I got to know her well when I joined the academic staff shortly afterwards and we remained good friends right up until she passed away. I always held her in high regard. Joyce suffered several major illnesses in her life, but she never complained and was always cheerful and positive. She was one of the kindest and best-organised people I have ever met. She was very good at putting everyone, including sixth formers arriving for interview, at their ease and always thought of others before herself.

Joyce will be missed by all who knew her, but she will be remembered with great affection. I feel privileged to have been one of her friends.