BEND, Ore. (AP) — John Thompson, who guided preparations for the 2020 census as director of the U.S. Census Bureau, has died.
Thompson died May 9 at his home in Bend, Oregon. He was 73.
Thompson was confirmed in 2013 as the Census Bureau's 24th director after being nominated by President Barack Obama. He departed in 2017 following the election of President Donald Trump to his first term but helped lay the groundwork for many of the innovations implemented in the 2020 head count.
Those included the utilization of smart phones and the widespread use of online responses, which were instrumental in helping the bureau to navigate one of the most difficult censuses in U.S. history during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He guided preparations for the 2020 census, which became our nation’s most automated and technically advanced ever,” Ron Jarmin, the current acting director of the Census Bureau, said in a statement. “With his decades of experience as a public servant, he understood the importance of our agency’s organizational health and made it a priority.”
After earning bachelor's and master's degrees at Virginia Tech, Thompson joined the Census Bureau in 1975 and rose to the position of associate director for decennial census programs, which put him in charge of all aspects of the 2000 census. He helped pioneer optical scanning and intelligent character recognition, which allowed handwritten items on census forms to be converted into responses, according to the statistical agency.
The head count figures collected during the once-a-decade census are used to allocate states' congressional seats and Electoral College votes, and help determine the distribution of federal funding.
Thompson left the Census Bureau in 2002 for more than a decade to work at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, eventually becoming its president and CEO. At NORC, Thompson was the project manager for the National Immunization Surveys, which was the the largest telephone social science survey in the United States at the time.
“It would be hard to overstate John’s influence on NORC and its people,” Dan Gaylin, president and CEO of NORC, said in a statement. “John’s confident, empowering, values-driven leadership enabled the people of NORC to see that future and make it a reality.”
After leaving the Census Bureau in 2017, Thompson became executive director of the Council of Professional Associations for Federal Statistics for a year before retiring in 2018.
Thompson is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and three children.
The Associated Press and NORC are partners in the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which conducts survey research on a variety of topics.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows John Thompson. (U.S. Census Bureau via AP)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A shooting outside a church building in Salt Lake City killed two people and injured six others Wednesday, police said.
The shooting took place in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.
Dozens of people were attending a funeral inside at the time. All the victims were adults.
Police said they do not believe the shooter had any animus toward a particular faith.
“We don’t believe this was a targeted attack against a religion or anything like that,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said.
Police also do not believe the shooting was random. Authorities said no suspect was in custody.
About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, and helicopters flew overhead.
“This should never have happened outside a place of worship. This should never have happened outside a celebration of life,” Mayor Erin Mendenhall said.
The church was cooperating with law enforcement and was grateful for efforts first responders' efforts, a spokesperson said.
“We extend prayers for all who have been impacted by this tragedy and express deep concern that any sacred space intended for worship should be subjected to violence of any kind,” Sam Penrod said in a statement.
The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, and about half of Utah’s 3.5 million residents are members of the faith. Churches like the one where the shooting occurred can be found in towns throughout the city and state.
The faith has been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in a Michigan church last month and set it ablaze. The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
People hug each other after a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
Funeral attendees leave a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after a fatal shooting in the parking lot in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News via AP)
Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Rio Giancarlo/The Deseret News via AP)
