We are sad to hear about the passing of Dr. Howard Nielsen. The genesis of the BYU Statistics Department was when BYU President Ernest Wilkinson hired Dr. Nielsen, who was a Stanford professor, to forecast the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and after finding out Howard was a Latter-day Saint invited him to join the faculty.
This article in the Deseret News characterizes his rich life and work in Congress:
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/5/20/21265466/congress-howard-nielson-utah
His impact on our very existence as an BYU unit is nicely described in this BYU Studies article by Dr. Blades:
https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/anticipating-year-2000-howard-nielson-byu-and-statistics