Rod’s grandfather was the Stillman at the Laphroaig whisky distillery on Islay. Rod enjoyed the odd dram but he found Laphroaig whisky a bit too peaty for his taste, however he never lost his taste for good wine as his friends and family will testify.
He was born in Birmingham and had older twin siblings, brother Neil and sister Janet.
He got a 1st class honours degree from Sheffield University in Biology, despite contracting pneumonia and having to study whilst recovering. In Sheffield he also met and married his first wife Mabel, a beauty consultant, and they had two children, Fiona and Neil.
He worked at Porton Down, though as he himself said, not the part that has made the news recently, then for the UK Overseas Aid Department on killing locusts to alleviate the famines they caused, finally for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He was a specialist scientist, highly respected in his field, with papers to his name, and speaking at conferences around the world. His later work was mainly in Ethiopia and Zambia. He got on well with the local Ethiopians who both respected him and considered him as a friend.
In retirement Rod worked for the community as Treasurer of the Seaton Hospital League of Friends for a number of years. It also gave him the opportunity to enjoy his grandchildren, something that his work abroad had constrained with his own children.
You all know how proud Rod was of his Hybrid fuel Prius car. He was also proud of his first car, a 3 wheeler Reliant Robin in which he used to take Mabel, Fiona, Neil and the dog out for picnics in the country.
Rod enjoyed new technology and was an early user of new tools. He had several laptops, Kindles, a Fitbit and he used on-line banking right up to his death. The two pieces of music played in his service were songs that he recently listened to on his Kindle.