OBITUARY

Roy Jackson died on 03/11/2019.

Emeritus Professor William Roy Jackson AM FTSE was an internationally renowned applied chemist and tireless educator.

Born in the picturesque town of Bacup in northern England, he received a Bachelor of Science from Manchester University in 1955 and a PhD in organometallic chemistry from the University of London in 1958.

He became an assistant lecturer in chemistry at Queen’s University, Belfast, at the relatively young age of 24. Professor Jackson gained a DSc from the University of London in 1973. Shortly after he migrated to Australia to become Chair of Organic Chemistry at Monash University.

He later became Head of the Department of Chemistry and was named the first Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor in 1995. Known to his students as ‘Prof’, Professor Jackson’s engaging teaching and positive attitude inspired hundreds of chemistry careers.

Professor Jackson was elected an ATSE Fellow in 1990.

He has international reputations in synthetic chemistry, especially catalysis and organo-transition metal chemistry, as well as energy chemistry. He also made major contributions to drug design and development.

With a passion for sustainability, Professor Jackson became the inaugural Director of the Centre for Green Chemistry in 2001. He believed that clever chemistry was the bedrock for national prosperity and championed the cause among the public and schools.

In 2013, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to science in the field of organic chemistry as an educator and researcher. He continued to work part-time into his 80s.

A keen walker, Professor Jackson was equally at home in the bush as he was in the lab, and was famed for always going the extra mile — both physically and academically. His deep scientific knowledge, leadership, and jovial disposition are sorely missed.

Roy Jackson died on 3 November 2019, aged 84. He is survived by his wife Heather, children Tim, Martin and Catrin, and three grandchildren.