NEWS23 June 2015
UK — Former NOP divisional director Tom Punt died on Friday 19 June, following an operation. He was 85 and had been a member of Market Research Society since 1959.
Punt retired from NOP in 1993, before it became GfK NOP, after 20 years in social research. He had previously been at MIL where he worked on many notable projects, included the 1981 Greater London Transportation Survey. His early working life was spent in advertising, with stints at Lintas and DDB.
Punt graduated with 1st Class Honours from Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Robert Owen Bishop Scholar in history and political theory. He maintained a keen interest in contemporary history throughout his life and was a regular political blogger.
He served on the Steering Committee of the Research Network from its inception in 2002, first as co-editor (with Phyllis Vangelder) of the newsletter, then as webmaster, and rarely missed the group’s lunches. He will be greatly missed by everyone who enjoyed his sense of humour there and, of course, by his family.
A requiem mass for Punt will be held at St Michael’s RC Church in Ashtead at 9.30am on 3 July.