Director’s Blog: Remembering Kenneth Prewitt
June 5, 2026
Written by: George M. Cook, Performing the Duties of the Director
I am sad to share news of the passing of Kenneth Prewitt, former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, at age 90.
Dr. Prewitt, an eminent academic, public servant and champion of civic engagement, was born in 1936 in Alton, Illinois. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis; he also attended the Harvard School of Divinity.
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In 1963, he earned a doctorate in political science from Stanford University. From 1965 until 1983, Prewitt taught at the University of Chicago, achieving the rank of full professor. He also taught at Stanford, Columbia, Washington and Makerere universities. Additionally, Prewitt was senior vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation for 10 years and served as director of the National Opinion Research Center for five years.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed him director of the Census Bureau. From this post, he led the 2000 Census efforts, including the Census Bureau's planned but not enacted sampling proposal. Dr. Prewitt became the first director to visit Alaska to start the decennial count, collecting information from the first of 747 people enumerated in Unalakleet, part of the Nome Census Area, on January 20, 2000.
Dr. Prewitt spoke of the census as a "civic activity of the highest order" at a time when civic engagement was declining. In a video encouraging response to the 2010 Census, he said:
I think the census is a cornerstone of democracy because it is the starting point for what is representational democracy... The census is a moment in American political life, when the entire population simultaneously does something to show their loyalty, their responsibility, their obligation to the workings of our democracy. If the American public would understand it as a civic ceremony that involves us all, then I think they would be happily willing to cooperate with the census.
After his service as director ended in 2001, Dr. Prewitt published many books and articles — including several about the census — and was a professor and fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He returned to the Census Bureau as a senior advisor in the Office of the Director in 2021.
We mourn the loss of this Census Bureau leader and share our sorrow at his passing with his friends and family, including his wife and children.
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