Dr Kenneth Jones: a tribute
15 August 2024
The Microbiology Society was saddened to learn of the death aged 94 of Dr Kenneth M Jones, who was General Secretary of the Society at an important time in its development in the 1980s.
Originally from Buckinghamshire, as a young man Ken Jones was a keen sportsman. He did National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals and was involved in the Berlin Airlift in the late 1940s before beginning his scientific career.
Ken Jones was one of the first students to study Biochemistry when the University of Oxford introduced the subject as an undergraduate course. Although he spent much of his student days involved with the University Dramatic Society, he was the first student at Oxford to gain a first class degree in Biochemistry and then went on to work on methionine synthesis with D D Woods. He spent a period at the Rockefeller Institute (now University) working on peptides as growth factors for lactobacilli before returning to the UK to join Sir Hans Kornberg and others in establishing the Department of Biochemistry at Leicester University, which from the outset was focused heavily on microbial research. In the 1970s, he became Chairman of the University’s School of Biological Sciences where he oversaw the setting up of Leicester’s Medical School.
An active member of what was then the Society for General Microbiology since 1957, Ken nevertheless expressed surprise when in 1984 he was invited to become the General Secretary. He soon demonstrated why his colleagues had chosen him, however, when he reported that his willingness to serve was based on his impression of the Society’s “friendliness, vigour and farsightedness” and his appreciation of the organisation’s “tradition of caring for the needs of its younger members”.
Among his duties as General Secretary was writing regularly for the members’ magazine (which was then known as the Quarterly), and he was keen that he should not merely reflect the General Secretary’s personal perspective, but represent important strands of discussion within the Society. His reports covered details of the Society’s organisational structures, articles about the content of scientific conferences, financial matters, support for students, the success of the Society’s journals, policy matters such as how to influence the UK’s Research Assessment Exercise, and important scientific areas such as biotechnology. He was also involved in ensuring the Society complied with the Data Protection Act of 1984, made arrangements for the Society’s involvement in the International Congress of Microbiology in Manchester in 1986, and led discussions about the intricacies of the statutes of what was then the Bacteriology Division of the International Union of Microbiology Societies.
When he stood down as General Secretary in 1989, Ken Jones’s successor R A Herbert was keen to echo the President’s thanks for his “unstinting efforts” over a period of five years.
Ken was married to Rosemary (née Galliver) for almost 70 years and together they had three children and four grandchildren, all of whom survive him.
Ken Jones died on 13 May 2024, aged 94.