ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY OBITUARY

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RSC News
May 2009

Dr Diana Simpson (1929 -2009)

Dr Diana Simpson has died aged 79. She was a vigorous advocate of chemistry and, as a volunteer, made many significant contributions to the work of the RSC.

Diana joined the RSC (then the Royal Institute of Chemistry) in 1963. She will probably be best remembered for her tireless work fir the Analytical Division. Her contribution included over six years as honorary treasurer of the Division and 20 years service as a trustee of the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund.

She became honorary secretary and treasurer of the newly formed Analytical Division’s East Anglia region in 1967 – a role she filled for many years, She received the Division’s Distinguished Service award in 1983.

Diana advised on many aspects of the RSC’s work including analytical methods, meetings’ programmes, publications and post-experience courses She was the honorary secretary and treasurer of the Chromatography and Electrophoresis Group for 28 years and she helped to found the Chemical Consultancy Forum in 1990 and served as its chair.

Diana also played an active role in the Society’s Essex Local Section and served on its committee. She was a member of several high level governance bodies in the Society and for several years she was also a valuable member of the Finance Committee. Her service includes an exceptional six terms, totaling 18 years, as a member of Council between 1983 and 2007.

Other Council Members during this period will clearly remember Diana sitting with one or two representatives of the analytical chemistry community in the front row of the Council chamber directly in the line of site of the President, actively participating in all debates with thoughtful and decisive contributions.

In 1994 she was given the RSC’s Award for Service in recognition of her long and dedicated service. We celebrate her many contributions and convey our sincere condolences to her family and friends.

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INSTITUTE OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OBITUARY

Transcript
Food Science and Technology
June 2009

Dr Simpson

MPhil, PhD, FinstP, CEng, FIM, FRSPH, EurChem, CChem, FRSC, FIFST (1929-2009)

We were saddened to learn of the death on 15 March 2009, at the age of 79, of Dr Diana Simpson. Dr Simpson had a long record of service to both IFST and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Diana joined IFST and was elected a Fellow in 1988. In IFST she served as Training & Examinations Committee Chair 1992-1995, continuing as Vice-Chair 1996-1998 and serving member 1998-2001. Under the Training and Examinations Committee aegis, she served on the Diploma Management Group 1993-94 and the Examiners and Counsellors Quality Assessment Group 1994-1996 She served as an IFST Council Member 1993-2007; Regional & Specialist Affairs Cluster Chair 1997-2001; as Honorary Secretary of IFST 2000-2005; and as a Trustee of the IFST Trust Fund 1999-2009. She was one of the founding members of IFST’s Professional Food Microbiology Group. She contributed to the Good Laboratory Practice chapter of IFST’s ‘Good Manufacturing Practice Guide’.

In the Royal Society of Chemistry, of which Diana became a Fellow in 1969 and a Chartered Chemist in 1979, she was elected to the RSC Council in 2005. Prior to that she was the instigator and continued as a leading light of its Chemical Consultancy Forum. At various times she was an elected Member of the Professional Affairs Board, of the Industrial Division Council and Council Member and Vice-President of the Analytical Division. She also represented RSC on several outside bodies including UKFFoST, the BSI Food and Agriculture Committee and the Health & Safety Executive Committee on Analytical Requirements.

Diana was born in Oldham, the only child of a Jewish family. Her father had wanted a son and did not encourage her in her studies. Although she was interested in science, she was not allowed to take physics and chemistry at Oldham Municipal High School. They said “Science? Our girls do needlework!” This did not go down well with Diana, who had a very sharp, enquiring mind. She waited until she left school and studied at evening classes, and then by sandwich courses, gradually building up her qualifications. She worked initially at ICI.

From 1953-1960, she worked for Pfizer Ltd, where her analytical work first related to food and where she met and in 1960 married Gordon Simpson, who was her best friend and soulmate and eventually her business partner. They were married for 39 years, sharing their lives with cats and dogs when no children came along. She had a varied career including teaching science in a secondary school,

From 1964 to 1975, she worked for the plastics company British Xylonite Ltd, where she was responsible for analytical services to all divisions and for investigating the migration of plastic monomers and additives from plastic containers and packaging into food. The latter investigation was the subject of her PhD gained in 1974.

As partner and joint owner with her husband (Gordon Simpson) from 1975 until his death in 1999, and then as sole owner, she operated a highly-regarded consulting analytical laboratory, Analysis for Industry.

In 1987, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. With her husband she was joint author of a book commissioned by RSC, ‘An Introduction to Applications of Light Microscopy in Analysis”’

In her professional and work activities, Diana had firm views and convictions which she expressed in a courteous, quietly-spoken manner. Outside professional and work activities her hobbies were children and animal charities, reading, light microscopy, perpetuance of the use of correct English, attempting to persuade people that English and American are two different languages, word and mathematical puzzles, trying to out-predict the FTSE and watching cricket. The writer well remembers occasions before the start of a meeting when Diana would have a small radio with earphones and be listening to a cricket Test match commentary.

To the writer, Diana was a good friend and valued professional colleague for many years. Ave atque vale, Diana.

J. Ralph Blanchfield

A SELECTION OF OTHER TRIBUTES

Professor Gillian M. Greenway

I am contacting you as President of the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. I was very sad to hear of Diana’s death, as she has been a role model for me in my career. When I started being involved with the RSC there were very few women but Diana was there working away in a very determined and dedicated manner.

Prof. Gillian M. Greenway
Department of Chemistry
University of Hull

Professor J D R THOMAS
Dear Barbara,

Forgive me for addressing you by your first name, but that is how I knew Diana ever since our paths first crossed in 1967, when she became Honorary Secretary of the Thin-Layer Electrophoresis Group of the Society for Analytical Chemistry (SAC) and I was elected for the 2 year stint as Chairman of the Group. I was very fortunate to have had Diana as Secretary as she did a magnificent job in the role which she held for very many years. Indeed, she wrote up the history of the Group (which had by then long become the Chromatography and Electrophoresis Group of the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry) for the book I had published in 1999 - A HISTORY OF THE ANALYTICAL DIVISION of the RSC (and to which I added the Editorial Note: "And an especially deep debt of gratitude to Dr Diana Simpson who has carried so much of the burden of steering the Group." This indeed also summarises the value of the tremendous service on the much wider front that Diana gave to science and to the whole of the Royal Society of Chemistry at Council level and for its Analytical Division.

Diana was a wonderful person, and it was through her that I can claim to have addressed a meeting of the Consultants' Group at the Royal Thames Yacht Club - which was at her invitation to give an address on 'Experiences of Editing a Newsletter'.

[She was a] good and loyal friend.
JDR

Professor Lesley Yellowlees

I was very sorry indeed to learn of [Diana’s] death. I am chair of Science Policy Board and have enjoyed working with Diana very much over the years - I also served on RSC council at the same time as Diana. I always enjoyed meeting and speaking with Diana. She was a fount of knowledge and blessed with lots of common sense and so was an extremely valuable ally to have on committees. I will miss her presence dearly.

Professor Lesley Yellowlees
Head of School of Chemistry
University of Edinburgh

Dr David A Ferguson

I worked closely with Diana for several years when she was the Honorary Treasurer of the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund, of which I am Trust Secretary. Over the years she contributed a tremendous amount of time, energy, experience and wisdom to the Trust, for which my colleagues past and present and I are very thankful. Diana and I got on very well, each enjoying each other’s sense of humour.

Dr David A Ferguson