Obituary: John Barter

Immediate reactions to this sad news among those who worked with him show he is universally remembered in a very positive way, for instance being described as ‘such a lovely man’, ‘an exceptional man’ and ‘very kind and generous, the epitome of integrity’.

He was born, lived and schooled in Norwich, and after graduating from the London School of Economics, qualified as a chartered accountant before joining the RAF until 1961.

He then joined NOP as its fourth employee, and in 1966 became joint managing director along with Frank Teer, in which time it was developed from an opinion poll subsidiary of the Daily Mail Group into a leading full-service market research company. He remained there until 1991, having become full managing director after Frank’s earlier retirement.

He served on several Market Research Society (MRS) committees and was MRS chairman between 1979 and 1981.

John did many things to promote good research in Britain and as chairman of AMSO, and among other things persuaded its members to launch the Interviewer Card Scheme (ICS), which subsequently led to the world-wide adoption of the ISO 20252 industry standard.

He also worked extensively as a consultant and expert witness in legal proceedings involving the use of survey data in evidence.

His whole career brought great credit and success to the research industry, and he is very much missed by all those who knew him. Details of his funeral or memorial service will be circulated in due course.