1st female director of U.S. Census Bureau dies at 96 in Ann Arbor

Barbara Everitt Bryant, the first woman to direct the U.S. Census Bureau and a "trailblazer and a champion of quality survey methods" died Friday, March 3, 2023.

As a professional, she rose to the top of her field. As a mother, her family "hardly missed a beat," her daughter said, as she navigated family life, academic degrees and career.

Dr. Bryant was 96 and died of natural causes, her family said.

She lived in Birmingham and later, Ann Arbor until her death, her family said. She began her 38-year career in survey research at age 44 after she left work to raise three children.

Dr. Bryant and her husband, John Bryant, moved to Birmingham in 1956, where she focused on her family and the League of Women Voters. When her youngest child started first grade, Dr. Bryant began commuting to Michigan State University, where she earned a master's degree in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications, her children said.

Dr. Bryant was always involved when her children were young, said her oldest child, Linda Bryant Valentine. She volunteered as their Girl Scout Leader as well as the League of Women Voters. Valentine recalled her mother putting her to work staffing a booth for a voting demonstration at the state fair, where kids could vote on whether chocolate or plain milk was superior.

When her mother went to graduate school, "the family hardly missed a beat," Valentine said.

"She was so competent that she would have meals planned and vacations organized (while she attended school and got her master's and Ph.D.)," Valentine said. "As a kid in the family, we knew she was doing things, and we were proud of her, but family life continued.

"How she balanced and juggled it all is remarkable."

Dr. Bryant initially had planned to get just her master's degree at MSU, but she became "totally hooked" on communications research, Dr. Bryant said during an oral history with the U.S. Census Bureau in 1993. Communications research led her to survey research, which ultimately led her to the Census Bureau.

Once she got her Ph.D. in 1970, Dr. Bryant began her career in survey research. She started at Detroit-based Market Opinion Research, where she worked for 20 years, including 12 as senior vice president, her children said. There, she directed national research for three presidential commissions, under President Gerald Ford, President Jimmy Carter and President Ronald Reagan.

She became active in the American Marketing Association and served two terms on the national board, Dr. Bryant said during the oral history interview, and the association forwarded her name to the director of the Census Bureau to be a member of the Census Advisory Committee. In March 1989, she was asked to interview for the position of Census director.

"She saw (the Census Bureau) as the pinnacle of survey and analysis, and making sense of the world through that sort of work," Valentine said.

President George H.W. Bush appointed her director of the Census Bureau in 1989, where she oversaw the 1990 Census and the bureau's response to issues such as undercounting, Census Bureau director Robert Santos said. She was at the bureau until 1993, working to improve the quality of economic statistics and helped lead to bureau toward computer-assisted data collection.

Santos called Bryant a "trailblazer and a champion of quality survey methods" in a blog post about her death.

After she left the Census Bureau, Dr. Bryant joined the faculty at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where she designed the data collection methodology for the American Customer Satisfaction Index, her children said. She served as managing director of the national economic indicator for its first eight years, and retired as research scientist emerita in 2008 at age 82.

In addition to Valentine, she is survived by her children Randal Everitt Bryant and Lois Beth Bryant; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a sister, Pamela Ann Everitt.  

She was preceded by her husband and her brother, Bruce Wallace Everitt.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. April 1 at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, 1432 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Dr. Bryant was a role model for Valentine, she said. As she graduated from college and tried to launch a career as a lawyer, Dr. Bryant was starting another career in market opinion research. She encouraged each of her children to find their own interests and follow their passions, Valentine said.

When Valentine had her own children and stepped away from her career for several years, Dr. Bryant reassured her and made sure Valentine knew things would work out with her career after she came back.

"She was just extraordinary as a mother, as a community volunteer and in her career," Valentine said. "She was a trailblazer for women of my generation ... and the forefront of a generation of women who returned to work (after having a family.

"She showed my generation that women can accomplish and can do these things and still have a rich and full family life and community life."

kberg@detroitnews.com