My first meeting with John was when he had just arrived at the Imperial College Field Station at Silwood Park, with a fellowship to study for a Ph D in the Entomology Department. In exploring various options, I was fortunate that he chose me as his supervisor. While John was a very competent entomologist, he was interested at that stage of his career in not just looking at the entomological problem but doing so in a much broader context that included decision makers, economics, perceptions and other facets of the problem, along with the biological aspects. Needless to say, John completed his Ph D in record time and then became a close colleague for the next 20 years or so, at which point I made the move to Australia. John was a great travelling companion; we were both involved in various workshops both in the UK and Europe as well as in Africa and Asia. Perhaps the trickiest time we had was when we were in Nanjing during the Tiananmen Square incident and had to extend our stay much longer than planned. Apart from our work connection, John became part of our family, and we became friends with his family in the US and subsequently in the UK. Our daughters enjoyed John's company, especially as he famously taught both of them how to throw a boomerang (perhaps a part of his early history in Australia?). We've kept in touch with John and Megan since then, and they have both visited Diane and me in Brisbane.
John has been an important part of my life and will be sorely missed by me and the whole family.
My first meeting with John was when he had just arrived at the Imperial College Field Station at Silwood Park, with a fellowship to study for a Ph D in the Entomology Department. In exploring various options, I was fortunate that he chose me as his supervisor. While John was a very competent entomologist, he was interested at that stage of his career in not just looking at the entomological problem but doing so in a much broader context that included decision makers, economics, perceptions and other facets of the problem, along with the biological aspects. Needless to say, John completed his Ph D in record time and then became a close colleague for the next 20 years or so, at which point I made the move to Australia. John was a great travelling companion; we were both involved in various workshops both in the UK and Europe as well as in Africa and Asia. Perhaps the trickiest time we had was when we were in Nanjing during the Tiananmen Square incident and had to extend our stay much longer than planned. Apart from our work connection, John became part of our family, and we became friends with his family in the US and subsequently in the UK. Our daughters enjoyed John's company, especially as he famously taught both of them how to throw a boomerang (perhaps a part of his early history in Australia?). We've kept in touch with John and Megan since then, and they have both visited Diane and me in Brisbane.
John has been an important part of my life and will be sorely missed by me and the whole family.
