Secretariat

Dr Gordon Craggs

Colleagues will be sorry to learn of the death, on 4 September 2013, of Dr Gordon Craggs, former Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical Engineering, who retired from University service in 1995.

Born in Durham and educated in Stockton-on-Tees, Gordon Craggs obtained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 1957. Following graduation he joined AEI Manchester as a graduate apprentice, becoming a research engineer in 1959. He worked on investigations of thermal, stress and photoelastic problems, in liaison with the Universities of Sheffield and Bristol, and from 1960 gained tutoring experience both within AEI and at the Royal College of Advanced Technology in Salford.

On moving to Leeds in 1965 he joined the Leeds College of Technology as a lecturer to HND and HNCE level and registered for an MSc in Mechanical Engineering at the University. After joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1968 as a Lecturer, he pursued part-time study for a PhD alongside his University employment; the doctorate in being awarded in 1978. He was promoted to a Senior Lectureship in 1990.

A conscientious and dependable colleague, Gordon made a very significant contribution to the full range of work of the department. He was an engaging and effective teacher, well regarded amongst his students, and was sought after as an internal examiner. Alongside his substantial teaching responsibilities, he also undertook with characteristic quiet efficiency a wide variety of administrative and additional tasks (acting, for example, as a successful Schools Liaison Officer for over a decade) and served upon a number of Faculty and University committees and boards. He attained an enviable, and much deserved, reputation for his research in the field of engineering materials and was particularly successful in brokering and participating in interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists and engineers.

Gordon will be remembered with great warmth by students and colleagues alike for his modest approach; his consideration for others; his good humoured capacity for hard work and attention to every detail; and his fundamental decency. He is survived by his wife, Margaret. A family funeral has taken place.