Professor Proudman was a well-known figure in international scientific circles and acted as Secretary of the International Association of Physical Oceanography (now the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans) for a number of years before becoming its President in 1951-54. His foreign distinctions included membership of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and the Alexander Agassiz Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the CBE in the 1952 Birthday Honours. Professor Proudman married Rubina Ormrod in 1916 and there were two sons and a daughter of their marriage (James, Nancy and Ian). After his first wife died in 1958, Proudman married Beryl Gould in 1961, who survived him. Proudman died on 26 June 1975.