Professor John Lloyd
Emeritus Professor of Pharmacy, University of Sunderland
Emeritus Professor John B. Lloyd has passed away only a short time after he was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. This was particularly ironic because he was looking forward to making significant contributions to the Society. Indeed, John’s career had been notable in that he was very much a ‘team player’ both in his research and also in his academic contributions to teaching and to learned societies.
He graduated from Manchester University with 1st class honours in 1958 and went on to receive MSc., PhD. and DSc qualifications from that Institute. After his PhD he was appointed as a Research Assistant (1961) and then Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at University College, Cardiff. While at Cardiff, John recognised that what he valued achieving was his research and his interactions with students. Moreover, his collaborations with colleagues were found inspirational, especially with people from allied but not directly within his spere of interests. The unexpected opportunity of a position as Foundation Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Keele gave him a challenge of consolidating teaching and research there, as well as initiating new projects with medical colleagues. These made use of John’s strengths and fitted with his own preferences. John spent twenty years at Keele and other staff noted that he was ‘a most enthusiastic, helpful and hard-working colleague’.
Following a meeting with Prof. Jindrich Kopecek in 1978 and a shift in his research towards cell-targetable drug-polymer conjugates, he was offered an opportunity to go to the USA and take up a position as Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia (1989-98). John’s scientific background was pivotal to the success of a mutual interdisciplinary project on developing new anticancer drugs at Jefferson and led to over 20 manuscripts in leading journals, which are widely cited. After his work in the USA, John returned to the UK to take on a new challenge as Professor of Pharmacy (University of Sunderland) and Head of the Sunderland School of Pharmacy. Later he became Professor Emeritus there.
There are three main strands to John Lloyd’s research. Endocytosis and lysosome function, nutritional aetiology of congenital malformations and cell-targetable drug-polymer conjugates (mentioned above). His major publications include top level journals and many of his papers have been cited over a hundred times. His co-edited four volume series (The Cell in Medical Science) is a seminal book in its subject area. Moreover, although the main thrust of his research has been on aspects of human disease, he was a pioneer in lysosome biochemistry, soon after these organelles were discovered.
As one might expect from such a willing, cooperative person, John contributed significantly to learned societies such as the Biochemical Society and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Biology and the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
Once John ‘retired’ he didn’t let the grass grow under his feet and focused his attention on personality psychology and the interface between science and religious belief with several important publications. This interfaced with his role as a Lay Minister in the Diocese of Monmouth and as a member of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales.
John is survived by his wife Anne Myfanwy and their three sons. He is remembered by all who met and interacted with him as a real ‘gentleman’ who contributed positively to everything he did.
Prepared by John Harwood, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University
