George On August 8, Edward George, of Bryanston View, PO Box 98238, Sloane Park 2152, Transvaal, South Africa. Mr George registered in 1935 and retired from the register in 1997.
Hugo In a tribute to the late William Barry Hugo (PJ, October 2, p518), Professor STEPHEN DENYER writes: It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Barry Hugo, my former undergraduate tutor, PhD supervisor and finally senior colleague at Nottingham university.
I joined the staff at Nottingham with Barry's encouragement and assistance. He accepted me quickly as a colleague, and I learned to regard him as a guiding friend and mentor. He was a man of high intellect, extensive reading, and penetrating wit; few could better him in debate. But he was also a man of great understanding, particularly for his younger colleagues, recognising their aspirations and assisting rather than dominating. I owe much to Barry's careful counsel.
Barry was an intuitive judge of a person and it would continually astonish me to see his initial judgments unfold with uncanny accuracy. This skill was so finely tuned that Barry had sometimes to be constrained from pulling out his British Rail timetable during an admissions interview and offering the candidate details of the next train home!
In his science, Barry made a special contribution to the understanding of modes of action of disinfectants and preservatives, an area less glamorous than antibiotics but equally as challenging. It is salutary to realise that the current trend to place hygiene at the centre of infection control now demands an extensive knowledge of disinfectant action. The literature in this area abounds with his name. He will be remembered also for helping develop a special place for pharmaceutical microbiology in the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum: ‘Hugo and Russell', the later editions of which he worked on in his retirement, is used in virtually every school of pharmacy in the UK and many more abroad.
Barry was a great colleague to work with, ideally suited to the academic environment. He made major contributions to the field of pharmaceutical microbiology. Many owe him much. I owe him more. My condolences to his son David and his daughter Ann and their families.
Silver On August 16, Bernard Silver, MRPharmS, of 49 The Bowls, Vicarage Lane, Chigwell, Essex IG7 6ND. Mr Silver registered in 1954.
Wake On August 17, Richard Wake, MRPharmS, of 10 Sandringham Park, Cobham, Surrey KT11 2EQ. Mr Wake registered in 1952.
Wallis In a tribute to the late Margaret Wallis (PJ, October 2, p518), Mr E. J. H. MALLINSON writes: Throughout my career I have been privileged to have met, and been friends with, three female pharmacists from a generation that qualified between the world wars when it was not the norm for women to go to college as is the case today. "Wallis", as she was known to her friends (she hated the name Margaret) was one such. The niece of the late Dr T. E. Wallis, whose text book on pharmacognosy was on the reading list of most of the schools of pharmacy in the English speaking world, whom she affectionately referred to as "Uncle Tommy", she qualified as a pharmacist in 1933. For her, the profession was much more than merely a way to earn a living and she carried her profession's banner into many arenas, acting as one of its best and on occasions fiercest ambassadors. She was also one of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's greatest critics and was not always totally at ease with the direction it took, voicing her concerns not publicly but quietly in the ear of the many friends she had in "high places".
We first met in 1979 when I joined the committee of the pharmaceutical group of the Royal Society of Health, and she and I served together until the demise of the group some 10 years later. During that time we became friends. Keeping in touch had to be by letter, since she refused to have a telephone even after the trauma of being mugged in her own home one afternoon after returning from a locum appointment. Her recovery from this incident took a long time. However, she was a fighter and showed great courage in not letting the incident get the better of her. Despite it taking a toll on her confidence to go out at night, she continued to attend the Society's annual general meeting and branch representatives' meeting and I met her, for the last time as it turned out, at this year's AGM in May .
She was also a regular attender at the British Pharmaceutical Conference. The fact that she was not at BPC'99 in Cardiff at the beginning of September was a surprise and prompted me to write to her on my return home. Sadly that letter will not be answered.
I for one will miss her. The profession has lost one of its characters and those who were privileged to know her, a good friend.
Mr J. T. BOWLEY writes: I have learnt from the local press of the death of Margaret Wallis, FRPharmS. She was apprenticed in the early 1930s to the pharmacy in Tunbridge Wells where my father then worked and subsequently jointly owned until his retirement in 1971.
I have among my late father's things a note which Ms Wallis wrote to him in 1972, when she was designated a fellow of the Society, and I quote: "Thank you, Claude, for your part in helping my climb up the ‘ladder of fame' which goes back to those far off, yet seemingly so recent apprentice days." The note closed with: "Seriously, thank you, Claude - Maggie."
She was of the era when there were comparatively few women pharmacists and for a time owned her own pharmacy. On a more personal note she was instrumental in persuading me to return to my studies having suffered academic failure and for which I am duly grateful, having last month achieved 40 years as a pharmacist.
Ms Wallis was a true professional - upright and serious, yet humorous and not stuffy - and consequently she earned the respect of those around her. A continuous thread which goes back to my childhood and youth has been gently broken and I feel, therefore, I owe her this tribute.
Ms GRACE RICHARD writes: I read with sadness that Margaret Wallis had passed away. We had met up every year at the branch representatives' meeting - she was at the one this year and was her usual bright, talkative self.
We were at Brighton college of pharmacy in 1933 in a year with only four women - "a man's world" — with students from all types of apprenticeship training.
Margaret always stood out as "a character" and a very dedicated person - a spade was a spade. She well deserved her fellowship and will be sadly missed by all who knew her and worked with her over the years.