Secretariat

John Gray

Members will be sorry to learn of the death on Sunday 21st October of John Stuart Gray. Born in 1941, John did his BSc at the University of Wales (Bangor), following this with a PhD at the Marine Science Laboratories, again Wales (Bangor). His thesis was on the ecology of marine meiofauna the tiny animals living in between sediment grains of sandy marine environments. This won him the Zoological Societys T.H. Huxley prize for 1965, and was the springboard for his subsequent career in which he developed the study of the marine benthos, in terms both of its appeal as a system for the study of biodiversity and its utility for the understanding of man-made impacts, especially pollution.

From Wales John came to the University of Leeds, joining the staff of the Wellcome Marine Laboratory in Robin Hoods Bay. Here he formed a dynamic group working on sediment ecology, building a strong international research reputation, and actively contributing to the teaching programme in the Department of Zoology. At Leeds he began vigorously to develop what later became one of his major contributions, moving benthic ecology and studies of pollution from observation to hypothesis testing. In 1976 he was appointed Professor of Marine Biology in Oslo.

John is survived by his wife Anita and their sons, Martin and Anders.