Professor Styan received a B.Sc. degree in mathematics from the University of Birmingham in 1959, and an M.A. in 1964 and a Ph.D. in 1969, both in mathematical statistics and both from Columbia University. He was then appointed Assistant Professor and, in 1987, promoted to Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at McGill University. His research focuses on statistics at the interface of linear algebra and its broad spectrum of applications.

Professor Styan has contributed substantially and selflessly to the statistics profession through exemplary service to very many editorial boards and to conference organization, including over ten years as Abstracting Editor for Current Index to Statistics and seventeen years at the helm of the managing editorship for The Canadian Journal of Statistics. His eagle-eyed supervision of the publishing process for The Canadian Journal of Statistics was a critical element of the impeccable quality of its print, contents, reprints, and journal services.

Professor Styan has received numerous awards, including the SSC Distinguished Service Award in 1988 and an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Tampere in Finland in 2000. Professor Styan received the 2003 Harry C. Carver Medal from the Institute for Mathematical Statistics, in part "for exemplary service through membership on organizing committees for many international meetings and for elevating the taste of the statistical community with élan and savoir faire as a gourmet par excellence".