I have interacted over the years with Peter through being part of and then organising the annual Armitage Lecture and Workshop of the MRC Biostatistics Unit. Each year, over the last eight years, I would send Peter emails to invite him to the Armitage Day and to let him know who the Armitage Lecturer would be that year and to follow-up after the event. Peter would always graciously reply with warm and generous emails. He always expressed his pleasure that the Armitage event was still continuing and without fail would ask me to pass on his thanks to the various speakers of the Workshop. Moreover, he would always send a personal email to the Armitage Lecturers, who I know, were so very pleased and moved by this act of kindness and generousity. Peter was a remarkable person and it was an absolute delight when I met him for the first time back at the start of the Armitage Lecture series in 2003 and thereafter. His contributions to Medical Statistics are enormous. However, more fundamentally, Peter, beyond statistics, was someone you could look up to as a person. His generousity of spirit and warmness permeated all that he did. It was a pleasure to have met Peter and to communicate with him over the years. He will be missed!

Peter’s wonderful text “Statistical Methods in Medical Research” was the first book I bought when I started my first job with the Medical Research Council (MRC). It was a great introduction to applied medical statistics, after my attending rather mathematical University courses. It showed the perfect blend of applied common sense and mathematical rigour that was a consistent hallmark of Peter’s work. Many years later, when I was director of the MRC Biostatistics Unit (BSU), Vern Farewell and I initiated an annual public lecture series and wanted to name it in honour of Peter’s work in our field. We were delighted that Peter allowed his name to be associated with the lecture series, and that he attended so many of them in person. It was so encouraging to all staff and students at BSU that he came, and entered willingly into conversations with old and young alike. He was unfailingly polite, gracious and generous to all he met. The annual Armitage Lecture has continued to this day, and long may it continue in his honour.

I was saddened by the news of Prof Armitage passing. When I was asked to hold the lecture in his name, back in 2021, it was probably the highest achievement in my career --- and my interaction with him (whom I'd not met in person before) did reinforce the sense of pride I felt. He was a lovely human being, very approachable and with a great sense of humour. He will be greatly missed!

In 1976, when I was a Ph.D. student in Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, I started to become interested in potential applications, particularly in Medical Statistics. David Finney (then Chair of Statistics at Edinburgh) suggested I meet Peter Armitage in London where he was the Chair of the Department of Medical Statistics. Peter was so gracious in spending an afternoon with me at Keppel Street, advising me on possible opportunities in the US where I was headed for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. Looking back I am astonished that he was so generous with his time given that I was an unknown student from a different institution. But it turned out that his kindness was characteristic of the  way Peter interacted with junior people. His advice was spot on and, in one sense, he launched me into the field of Biostatistics which I have loved ever since. Many years later, I was privileged to spend a sabbatical at Oxford University at Peter's invitation where he was now the Chair of a newish Department of Statistics. It happened to be Peter's last year before his official retirement (1990) and he was a supportive and welcoming host. We discussed many problems in Medical Statistics at the time and his extensive knowledge was priceless. Subsequently, in his retirement, I worked with him as one of many topic Editors.  For me, as I got close to retirement myself, my world came full circle when I was the Armitage Lecturer in Cambridge in 2022. Peter attended virtually and was a lively commentator both at the event and by personal email afterwards. This was in his 99th year! Peter was the first to instill in me the curiosity and joy in applying statistics to the health sciences. We also shared a love of cricket. He was modest but very sharp,  full of wisdom and wonderful company. I shall miss him greatly. (Comments about Peter submitted to the magazine Chance)

What a dear, kind soul and brilliant scientists! I was so touched that he took the time to send a long and thoughtful e-mail during Armitage week. My thoughts are with all his loved ones during this difficult time.

Thank you for setting up this memorial to Peter. We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.

I am I and you are you, whatever we were to each other that we still are. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? Life means all that it ever meant, it is the same as it ever was.