Volume 13, Part 2, May 1999

Obituary: John Lacey (1937-1998)

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John Lacey was born in Bury St Edmunds,Suffolk on 9 April 1937. He attended school therebefore going up to Reading University in 1955,where he distinguished himself by receiving theUniversity Prize and a Class 1 BSc with Honoursin Horticultural Botany in 1959. His longassociation with Rothamsted ExperimentalStation commenced in 1957, with a short spell asa vacation worker. In 1959, he started anAgricultural Research Council PostgraduateStudentship at Rothamsted under thesupervision of Dr. J. M. Hirst. This culminated inthe award of a PhD (Reading) in 1962 for workon the activity of Phytophthora infestans in soil.It was during this time he met and marriedMaureen E. Bunce, who was at Rothamstedworking with Dr. P. H. Gregory on farmer's lung,a disease caused by antigens in mouldy hay. In1962 John was appointed to the staff ofRothamsted as a Scientific Officer to work onmicrofungi in pastures. During the next 35 yearshe rose to the B4 (Principal Scientific Officer)grade whilst remaining in what was essentiallythe same department (Plant Pathology wassubsumed in Crop and Disease Management in1995)to pursue his research career.

Retirement from science was never in John'splans and so it was that he continued atRothamsted after his official retirement in 1997in the capacity of Honorary Scientist. In fact, henever gave up and I recall him telling me hisplans for the future only weeks before he died.The scientific achievements of his long anddedicated association with Rothamsted wererecognised by the award of a DSc (Reading) at aspecial ceremony in hospital in Harpenden, ninedays before his death on 16 May 1998.

Although John started out on what might beconsidered mainstream topics for a plantpathologist, his expertise gradually developedinto a unique area of research at the interface ofstorage microbiology, occupational hygiene andmedicine, which gained him internationalrecognition. A significant step occurred in 1963,when Dr. Gregory went into hospital and Johntook over work on preservation of hay and, later,work on grain storage. This marked thebeginning of his three principal areas of research:(1) stored product microbiology, (2) the effects ofantifungal agents on colonisation of grain cropsbefore and after harvest and (3) taxonomy andecology of fungi and actinomycetes, especiallythermophiles. His ecological studies of micro-organisms causing biodegradation andbiodeterioration led to the identification ofenvironmental conditions, especially water

activity, temperature and gas composition, thatfavoured fungal development and secondarymetabolite (mycotoxin) production during grainstorage. The storage conditions studied rangedfrom underground Iron Age type pits to unsealedsilos. Other ecological studies aided theunderstanding of the development of Fusariumspp. and their mycotoxins in grain in the field.Apart from quality loss, these conditions cangive rise to human and animal diseases. John'swork, therefore, defined the storage conditionsleading to hazardous microfloras and theexposure conditions leading to human andanimal diseases. It also resulted in thedevelopment of selective media for some of thecausal organisms. These contributions tooccupational hygiene stemmed from his studiesof the aerobiology of such diverse environmentsas a green coffee bean storage and handlingwarehouse, a Portuguese cork factory, cottonmills, farm buildings, mushroom houses,pastures, pig houses, poultry houses, shrimppeeling plants, domestic and industrial wastehandling sites, and composting and land fillsites. His aerobiology work clarified not only theroles of micro-organisms in occupational lungdisease, but also the role of airborne fungalspores in plant disease and in allergies such aslate summer asthma. His development ofimmunological methods for the detection ofviable and non-viable airborne allergens, hisexpertise in assaying their toxic products and hisknowledge of bioaerosol samplers greatlyassisted this work. John and co-workersdescribed new species of actinomycetes:Saccharopolyspora hirsuta from sugar-canebagasse in 1975 and S. gregorii and S hordei fromfodder in 1989; as well as two new species of ahyphomycete fungus, Malbranchea, in 1982.

As the Agricultural Research Council (themajor source of funds for Rothamsted) changedinto the Agricultural and Food Research Councilin 1983 and then into the Biotechnology andBiological Sciences Research Council in 1994,John, like many of his long-servingcontemporaries in government-fundedagricultural research, experienced the boom timeof the 1960s-70s, the increasing accountancy ofthe 1980s and the down-turn in support of the1990s. This last stage must have been all themore difficult for him, because by then he wasaware he had cancer, yet his work outputremained prodigious and at the time of his deathhe had 304 publications and another 13 inpreparation.

John may have been based at Rothamsted all

his career, but he was no stay-at-home. Hismany projects and links with overseas institutesand his growing reputation, ultimately producingalmost 50 invitations to speak outside the UK,all afforded him opportunities to travel. Iestimate he visited about 30 countries. He wasparticularly proud of his appointment as HillVisiting Professor in the University ofMinnesota, which took him to the USA for 3months in 1981 to research on grain storage . Thisenthusiasm for meeting and working with foreigncolleagues was evident at Rothamsted in thenumber of overseas visitors to John's office andhome. Sometimes, his appearance at the coffeebreak in some conference T-shirt or flamboyantapparel from India or Mexico announced recenttravels to exotic places. This outgoing,international persona was a revelation to manyof his colleagues at Rothamsted, because withthem John was retiring, if not a little shy,particularly in general conversation. He alwaysseemed most at ease on the telephone, or inconversations on scientific or departmentalmatters. I particularly valued his wide knowledgeoffungi, so one topic we never had difficulty insustaining was mycology.

As a member of some ten scientific societies ,some of the more notable offices John held were:Member of Council, British Mycological Society;Secretary and then Chairman, InternationalSociety for Plant Pathology MycotoxicologyCommittee; Chairman , InternationalCommission on Mycotoxicology; FounderMember, President and Honorary Member,British Aerobiology Federation. He also tooktime to supervise some 14 MSc and PhDprojects. John's attachment to Rothamsted wassuch that he wanted to be part of, and tocontribute to, the life of the ExperimentalStation. He served in various capacities oncommittees concerned with the library, safetyand Rothamsted Overseas Housing Association.His thoroughness and reliability as a colleaguebecame clear to me when we worked together on

Volume 13, Part 2, May 1999

departmental projects to redesign the mediakitchen, clean room and incubator room. Thesimple statement by one of his erstwhileassistants that he always looked after his staffpays tribute to another aspect of his character.

Outside work John's interests were camping,walking, natural history and gardening. Hebecame a Queens Scout in 1955 and was formany years Deputy District Commissioner inHarpenden, receiving the Silver Acorn in 1989.He also served on several committees andcouncils of the Church of England.

John is survived by his wife, daughter and twosons .

David Hornby

BMS Millennium Symposium on Tropical Mycology

The British Mycological Society will hold aspecial symposium on 25-29 April 2000; coveringall aspects of tropical mycology, with field tripsand museum and school interfaces thereafter.Forty eight speakers from home and abroad havebeen invited to contribute to the formal pro-gramme which will be supported by identificationworkshops and poster sessions. Professor JackRogers of Washington State University, Pullman,will deliver the Benefactor's lecture.

The symposium will be held at the University ofLiverpool John Moores University, withaccommodation at the University of Liverpool. TheCouncil of the British Mycological Society hasgenerously offered five bursaries to the sum of£stg500each for deserving delegates wishing to attend.

Further details about the meeting can beobtained from Prof. Roy Watling (e-mailr.watling@rbge.org.uk). The full programme willbe found on the society's Home Page.