The Pharmaceutical
Journal Vol 267 No 7169 p534
13 October 2001
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The Pharmaceutical
Journal Vol 267 No 7169 p534 |
TributesIan William Shepherd Lowe / John Lyall Lowe In a tribute to the late Ian William Shepherd Lowe (PJ, 6 October, 491), MARGARET GILMORE writes: Ian Lowe assembled a multinational pharmacy team at St Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street, London and inspired them with his love of pharmacy, his good humour, his legendary energy and time management, his enthusiasm for getting a good job done well and, above all, his great loyalty to his staff, the patients and the whole institution that is St Mary’s. He raised the profile of pharmacy within St Mary’s by building strong personal relationships with the medical teams and departments. Because of him, medical and nursing staff knew what pharmacy was, knew when and how to make contact, and what pharmacy could do — they did not need to be convinced by others. Always fascinated by anything new or unusual, Ian’s links with the professorial units and the medical school meant that the pharmacy was involved in their research and development work. The first (non-disposable) total parenteral nutrition bags in Britain were filled at St Mary’s, and requests for special products and formulations provided pharmacy with many a challenge. Ian surmounted untold problems and delays in the modernisation of the whole pharmacy, and succeeded in maintaining staff morale by his continued enthusiasm during the lengthy and difficult rebuilding process. He had a low tolerance of pomposity, time-wasting and pedantry, and could skilfully cut through long discussions and papers, summarise the essentials, and enable practical decisions to be made and implemented. He always made time for his staff, sharing their achievements and problems, helping them in countless ways, and was always interested to hear of the activities of former staff members Ian Lowe’s high principles and practical faith touched the lives of all who knew him. It was a privilege to have been his colleague. No better memorial for him could be made than that his influence on others will continue to live on in all those who worked with him. Lyall In a tribute to the late John Lyall (PJ, 6 October, p491), Dr GEOFFREY SMITH writes: When I joined the pharmaceutics staff of Heriot-Watt University in 1967, Jock Lyall, who had taught unit operations and other aspects of the subject for some years, quickly made me feel at home. I well remember him assuring me of his help and support. Over the years until the pharmacy department was sadly forced to close in 1989, he unselfishly and faithfully kept that promise. In the laboratories Jock was a tower of strength. Any faults in equipment were rapidly diagnosed and often put right at once. His practical knowledge of chemical engineering, enriched by manufacturing experience with Burroughs Wellcome, was coupled with a natural talent for solving mechanical problems. An excellent teacher, Jock rightly expected students precisely to follow instructions in the use of sensitive instruments, expensive equipment and dangerous machinery and stood no nonsense from the recalcitrant few who did not. Woe betide any undergraduate who handed in his or her laboratory book an hour late! On such occasions I could picture a younger sterner Jock in his uniform of company sergeant major in the Officers Training Corps. However, his sunny nature soon shone through any clouds of disapproval and he took immense trouble to assist those students who struggled to understand a theoretical concept or who could not get apparatus to work. His confident enthusiasm and expertise in computing were invaluable to both staff and students. In research, Jock collaborated with a number of colleagues and his generous aid in the design of experiments and in the statistical analysis of results was much appreciated. His published work included studies on the adsorption of drugs and excipients on to solid particles and he contributed to The Journal in the long series of quarterly reviews on Current Aspects of Pharmaceutics. While we mourn Jock’s death we celebrate the life and work of a friend and colleague in a million. |