Page 66 - eclipse - Autumn 2018

IN MEMORIUM
he trained in avian pathology, as a Research Officer in the Poultry Department, Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), Weybridge.
In 1962 he was appointed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to work on a British Museum (Natural History) expedition to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) conducting post- mortem examinations to investigate diseases transmissible to humans and domestic stock. His PhD, “Studies on Blood Protozoa of Wild Mammals from Central Africa” was awarded in 1966 and his diaries of his several expeditions to Central Africa were published in “Meat for Mice” (Keymer, 2011).
Ian was one of the founder members
of the British Veterinary Zoological Society, established in 1961, and served on Council through to 1978
and as President 1967-1969. He was a driving force in many of the Society’s early achievements concerning conservation matters and the regulation of the welfare of non-domesticated species. He was elected to Honorary (Life) Membership in 1989 and, in1995, he received “The
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International British Veterinary Zoological Society/Upjohn Award for outstanding contributions in the field of Zoological Medicine”.
In 1965 he took up the
post of Pathologist at the Zoological Society of London with responsibility for post- mortem examinations on
all vertebrates dying in
the Society’s collections. During his time at the Zoo
he acknowledged much
help from the late Prof Ernie Cotchin and Dr Calvert Appleby at the RVC and made valuable contacts with medical
pathologists from some of the
London hospitals in developing his histopathology expertise. His most memorable post-mortem examinations in this period included Dixie, an elephant that had fallen into the moat of the elephant house at Regent’s Park and Chi Chi the famous Giant Panda. He also discovered a hitherto unrecorded louse on a Chilean Flamingo which was named Anatoecus keymeri.
In 1971 Ian married Janet Wightman, who drew many of the anatomical illustrations in Bird Diseases (Arnall and Keymer, 1975). In 1974 at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress, he received the Melton award for “Outstanding contributions in the field of Avian Care, Medicine and Surgery in 1973”. From 1976 to 1986 he served as MAFF Veterinary Investigation Officer, Norwich, where his skills continued to
be employed in pathological studies
of wildlife and animals in zoological collections. In retirement as an independent pathology consultant he was asked to study mortality in Southern Rockhopper penguins in the Falkland Islands in 1987 and to investigate unusual deaths in a captive herd of rare
antelopes at the King Khalid Wildlife Research Center, Saudi Arabia in 1988. Ian’s work was recognised with numerous academic achievements including Fellowships of the Institute
of Biologists (1973), the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (1973), and the Royal College of Pathologists (1982). Most of Ian’s published works concerned papers on birds and other native and exotic vertebrates. Many were pioneering first accounts of novel disease occurrences in hitherto unrecorded host species. As a consequence many of his papers continue to be cited frequently in further works as baseline descriptions. His work has been an inspiration and
of great importance to the escalating realisation that the study of diseases
in humans and their domestic animals cannot be divorced from those of wildlife.
When back in Norfolk Ian worked closely with the Wildlife Trusts; he was appointed a member of the Norfolk Naturalists Trust (now Norfolk Wildlife Trust) Conservation Committee 1978- 94 and served on the council of Norfolk Wildlife Trust from 1990-1995. In 1997 he was elected President of
the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society and continued to serve on its council until 2007. In 2012 he received the Sydney Long medal “for services to Nature conservation”, awarded jointly by Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Norfolk
& Norwich Naturalists’ Society.
He had an endearing self-deprecating sense of humour which would feature frequently in a repertoire of amusing stories, some local tales told in a broad Norfolk dialect.
Ian died peacefully at home on 2nd July, aged 95. He is survived by his wife, Janet, his son, Philip, his daughter- in-law, Louise, and his grandchildren, Alex and David, to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.