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In Memoriam
It is with great sadness we report that Ocean Sciences graduate Ru Morrison has passed away.
Photo: Angus Blackburn
“Ru studied Marine Biology and Oceanography gaining a first class honours degree in 1993. He
then moved on to take a PhD in Physical Oceanography with Dave Bowers.
In 1999 he moved to US, taking up a position at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution before moving on to the University of New Hampshire. He then managed a very successful coastal observatory system covering the Northeastern seaboard of the US.
His contribution was recognised earlier this year when Senator Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire read a tribute to his service to ocean science into the Congressional Record.
Outside of oceanography Ru led a busy life with his wife Ann Michelle and children Alasdair and Marin. He inherited the title of Chief of the Clan Morrison and participated in annual gatherings in his kilt. Ru had many friends in oceanography and elsewhere, and will be greatly missed.”
By Professor Jim O’Donnell, University of Connecticut (a friend, fellow Scotsman and collaborator).
DR CECIL JONES
We regret to announce the death of Dr Cecil Jones. Cecil was a longstanding friend and contributor to the School of Ocean Sciences.
“Cecil was amongst the first intake to read Psychology at Bangor and after graduating, took on the role of lecturing in the subject for the Department of Extra Mural Studies. However, he always had a strong interest in Marine Science, and I first met him on one of his visits to Marine Laboratories in Menai Bridge in 1969.
He obtained his PhD in 1972 and soon after discovered the slate wreck at Pwll Fanogl in the Menai Strait. The excavation and mapping of this wreck formed the centre of diving activity for several years and won him a Duke of Edinburgh award, and Gold medal as leader of sub aqua groups monitoring the Menai Strait.
In the 1990’s he received a research grant from the Pen-yclip trust and established the Cemlyn Jones Studentship for studies in Marine Archaeology. In 1998 he finally joined the School of Ocean Sciences where he developed and established Marine Environmental History as a subject area.
To all who knew Cecil he was an inspiration with a total enthusiasm for his subject. He was a fund of local marine knowledge and his stories of the lost underwater settlements of the Llŷn peninsular are legendary.
We have all lost a great inspirational academic and friend who will be hard to replace.”
Professor David Jones
“Cecil was a great communicator, very skilled at engaging with his audience. For many years he contributed evening lectures to students as part of the Marine Management module that was run over a weekend at Gregynog Hall in mid Wales, lectures that were full of interest and humour and equally enjoyed by students and staff.
His great passion was for Marine Archaeology – he was an experienced diver and he spent much of his life exploring the coastal waters around Anglesey where he made important archaeological discoveries. He and his team of enthusiasts established repeat video surveys of the seabed in several areas. This activity – collecting a time series of information – was unfashionable at the time but we can now appreciate its value when we are trying to assess ecosystem responses to environmental change. Cecil did this in his spare time without any financial support.
We currently have an ongoing project, funded by the Cemlyn Jones Trust, to digitise and catalogue his benthic survey video archive.
He was first and foremost an enthusiast. When Cecil knocked on your door, you knew that there was a high risk that you would be persuaded to help him in his latest schemes. It was also likely that you would agree to provide an evening course on marine biology, geology, or oceanography to the public in some remote part of North Wales – a decision you might regret as you drove through wind and rain on dark nights in February!”
Professor Colin Jago
