OBITUARY

John Pitt died on 23/03/2022.

Dr Pitt was one of the most eminent scientists to emerge in the Food Mycology area as an expert on Penicillium taxonomy and a pioneer of research on spoilage moulds in a range of foodstuffs.

Dr Pitt was born on a small property at Wamberal, on the Central Coast of NSW.

He grew up on a farm and had significant knowledge of fruit and vegetable crops, although was not interested in continuing in the family business. On 1st March, 1954, just before his 17th birthday, Dr Pitt joined CSIRO as a Technical Assistant Grade 1 (Junior). Over time, he slowly moved up through all research grades, reaching Chief Research Scientist in 1992, at the age of 55. He appears to be the only CSIRO employee to have ever achieved the feat of moving up from TA to CRS.

While working, he attended the University of New South Wales part-time to complete his higher education, studying Food Technology. His fascination with science resulted in him undertaking an MSc qualifying course at UNSW, and then a part-time MSc, entitled “Microbiological Problems in Prune Preservation”. The cemented his interest in the world of fungi. He subsequently carried out a full time PhD at the University of California, Davis, studying yeast taxonomy, and a postdoctoral year at the USDA Northern Regional Research Center, Peoria, Illinois (NRRL).

In the 1970s to 1990s, he carried out pioneering work on methods for isolating and identifying food-borne fungi. The work on food mycology was complimented with mycotoxin research and the possible methods for minimising aflatoxins in peanuts. This approach has become of world-wide interest with several commercial products now available.

He completed 65 years of service to CSIRO in March, 2019. He authored, co- authored, edited or co-edited 20 books, and published 250+ research papers and book chapters, 70 of them published since he officially retired in 2002.

After a lengthy battle with lymphoma, John died in the early hours on the 28th of March 2022. His contribution to mycology and his many achievements will continue to inspire. 

A former Chief Research Scientist in Food Safety and Quality at CSIRO, now as an Honorary Research Fellow, John continues to carry out research aimed at reducing mycotoxin levels in Australian and international food supplies. John is also an active member of two World Health Organisation (WHO) commissions, specifically the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the WHO Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG).