David Lancaster Laidman, who passed away on April 28, 2025, aged 88, had been a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science (latterly School of Biological Sciences) from 1963 to 1997.
Born and raised in Northwich, Cheshire in a background of agriculture, he spent formative time with his grandmother in Skenfrith near Abergavenny. A period he much enjoyed recalling.
He graduated (BSc and PhD) from the University of Liverpool, where he had studied under the Welshman Prof Richard Morton, FRS (1899-1977). He subsequently spent a post-doctoral year there researching the chemistry of ubiquinone (1961-2). A very influential early Post-Doctoral position was spent at the ETH Zürich, working on tocopherol with Prof Carl Martius (1906-1993; one of the discoverers of the Citric Acid Cycle (1937)). There he met and married Peggy Leonore Locher.
In 1963 he joined the ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science of Prof W. Charles Evans FRS (1911-1988). His laboratory and office, together with those of the rest of a group of Plant Biochemists, of which he was the founder member, was in the Memorial Building. His early research (inspired by Morton) was into plant lipid biochemistry, before extending into the field of seed germination in general. He supervised 26 PhD students – publishing a series of papers and reviews.
Towards the end of the 1970s, through training students from there, he began a long-term relationship with the Agricultural University of the Sindh, Tandojam, Pakistan. Together with Prof. Rahim Mirbahar, he was influential in the development of that institution. He was a regular visitor up to his retirement.
For many years after retirement, Peggy and David were very active with the Friends of Ysbyty Gwynedd, until their poor health intervened. (Peggy passed away in January 2023).
Peggy and David had a son, Andrew, a daughter in law Nicola and a granddaughter, Nadia (who was very important to the two during their last years).
Prof. Deri Tomos