Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

This range of character was perhaps most evident in his interest in music,
which stemmed from his days at King’s. His collection stretched not only from
Bach to Wagner, but also from Hendrix to Zappa. For someone with such
encyclopaedic knowledge of so many things it was perhaps comforting for
those around him that he had an inability to learn foreign languages, which
gave him at least one human weakness.
John packed a lot of professional and other activity and energy into his short
life, but most importantly he also imparted a wealth of warmth, compassion
and kindness to his family and friends.
King’s College retained a pivotal role in John’s life as the place where so much
had begun for him personally. It was a source of great pride to him when his
son Stephen was accepted to study at King’s, and during this time John and
Kate often took the opportunity to attend concerts and services in the Chapel.
John died on 5 December 2004.
EDWIN GEORGE BARTON CRUNDWELL (1948) was a pharmaceutical
chemist who enjoyed a long and successful career. He was born in Erith, Kent,
on 13 July 1927, and became a pupil at the Hurstpierpoint College, West
Sussex, in 1939. In 1946 he was awarded an Exhibition to King’s, and came
to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences after two years of National Service in
the Royal Corps of Signals.
After graduating in 1951 Edwin entered the pharmaceutical industry, taking
up a post in the research department of May and Baker Ltd in Dagenham. A
few years later he continued his academic research first at Birkbeck College,
London, and then at Southampton University. After being awarded a PhD in
1959 he worked at the Miles Laboratories at Stoke Poges before, in 1964,
becoming a Lecturer of Organic Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at what
was then Portsmouth Polytechnic. At Portsmouth he eventually became Head
of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Division and published extensively in
the Journal of the Chemistry Society, the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and
the Mycologist.
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OBITUARIES