Stuart Chant obituary

My father, Stuart Chant, who has died aged 83, was a microbiologist by profession, but had numerous personal interests – history, music, theatre, sport (particularly as a tennis player, and supporter of Scotland's rugby team) – and was also a family man, teacher, good friend and neighbour. He was an active member of the United Reformed Church, New Malden, serving as deacon and subsequently elder.Stuart was born in Rutherglen, Scotland. His father died when he was 11, leaving his mother, Janet, to raise Stuart and his older brother Ian on few resources, but with much resourcefulness. Although Janet hailed from Lancashire and her relatives urged her to return there on her husband's death, she chose to stay in Edinburgh to ensure her sons' education was not interrupted.Because of the death of his father, Stuart was eligible for a foundationer's place at the city's George Heriot's school. His excellent grades in the Scottish highers earned him a bursary at Edinburgh University, where he attained a first-class honours degree in botany. After diplomas in agricultural science at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and in tropical agriculture in Trinidad, he was awarded a PhD in the agricultural department at Edinburgh in 1958. The subject was cassava mosaic virus in Nigeria, for which the research was conducted during his time as federal plant pathologist at Moor Plantation in Ibadan (1954-58).Following a brief spell as an agricultural scientist in Invergowrie, Stuart started his academi...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Tags: Obituaries Biology guardian.co.uk Microbiology University of London Science Source Type: news