Concordia

George Krasker (1947-1952) died on 26th December 2019 aged 85

Concordia Winter 2021

married to Linda, a former M&S human resource executive, with their two talented daughters. On retirement George and Linda moved to the Cotswolds, to the village of Little Rissington. They joined the Bourton-on- the-Water Dramatic Society. As Stage Manager and Producer respectively, they put on many shows and pantomimes. A future plan was to be a joint commercial venture with their elder daughter and her husband, in the Cotswolds and, to this end, George built an artistic two storey extension to his daughter’s home in Brimpsfield. Unfortunately in 2010, as this was under way, George’s beloved wife died from a melanoma: George told me that he pined for Linda every day. Life became more difficult when five years ago George lost the use of his legs, resulting from low pressure hydrocephalus.

My old friend George Krasker died from a heart attack on Boxing Day 2019 at his daughter’s house in Brimpsfield. At Merchant Taylors’ School, George excelled in modern languages, and, due to an adjoining desk for four years, with some judicious cribbing, helped me to A Levels in French and German. Our preoccupation was sailing, George having built a dinghy at his home in Ruislip. Members of the Ruislip Lido Sailing Club made us welcome, and unofficial departures on games afternoons gave much time on the water. Our sailing highlights were Easter cruises on the Norfolk Broads, from a boatyard prepared to let four young lads loose on a thirty foot engineless sailing yacht. The other two crew in this quartet were Mitch (JS Mitchell), and Graham Kimber. After school, George did National Service in the Royal Navy, serving two years on a mine disposal vessel, clearing East coast minefields, and blowing up wrecks. Thereafter, he joined the Du Pont Company, rising through the ranks, moving to the Geneva HQ, with responsibilities in marketing and training, by now John Dupré grew up in Northwood, and when he left Merchant Taylors’ went to St. John’s, Oxford on a closed scholarship (the customary stairway to ‘heaven’ then) to read Physiology as a pre-clinical medical undergraduate. He went on to clinical training at St. Thomas’, though had already shown his interest in laboratory research in work on metabolic physiology with Dennis Parsons in Oxford. Throughout, he played consistently as a scrum-half, whether for St. John’s, the OMTs, or St. Thomas’. After early clinical posts in London following qualification in 1958, he decided to pursue his medical career in Canada where he combined hospital clinical work with laboratory work, clinical trials and epidemiological studies. He progressively concentrated on diabetes mellitus, and rose to be a Professor in that speciality at the Schulich School of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in London (Ontario). He was highly respected for his clinical care of patients and became internationally known for his research into Type I diabetes (T1DM, or so-called ‘juvenile-onset’). He has been described as one of the “most important clinical

it sparked in him a love for Tolkien, fantasy fiction and the ancient texts of the British Isles. Many a student will have analysed Houseman’s On Wenlock Edge in what must have been Joe’s favourite lesson of the year. Joe attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, where his father taught. He then went to Cardiff to study English Literature. Here he developed a love for the Early Modern period. More importantly, he met his wife, Maheera. So to the greatest achievement of Joe’s life. The one of which he was most proud and the one when the cherry blossoms bloomed fuller, truer and more beautiful than ever. The love he felt for Maheera and his daughter Cecilia brimmed in every word he spoke and every thing he did. His joy at becoming a father was indescribable. Any attempt here to capture the joy and fulfilment he felt in the beautiful little family home in North London will not suffice. Perhaps it simply does not need words. The final blossoms fell when that awful and unfair cancer took Joe from us. If there is one last lesson Joe taught us, it is that meaning can be found in suffering. He faced it in the only way Joe knew how: with positivity and grit. In his hospital bed he talked about how the news had inspired him to explore his faith more. Here he was, a young man dwelling on a positive route forward. This was Joe Tyler. The seasons of Joe’s life may have been cut short, but he lived every day like it was the first day of spring. It was beautiful, it was enjoyed completely, it was filled with happiness and love. He lived all the cherry blossom moments of what, knowing Joe, he would call his “wonderfully full” life. He will forever be that son, friend, teacher, husband and father, telling us all to live and love every moment we have in this world he enjoyed so much. About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow. James Manley English Department

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However, living close to family and grand- children he managed very well in his own home. Visitors were received with spirit, and treated to his habitual acerbic wit. George never lost his sense of humour. D Max Walker (1947-1953) Professor John Dupré (1944-1950) died on 30th December 2020 aged 90

scientists in the field of diabetes in the history of Canadian medicine”. Some epidemiological results had raised the possibility of a connection between breast-feeding and a liability to T1DM, but by careful work over more than a decade, he and his collaborators showed this not to be so. His other great interest was as to why glucose was handled differently when taken by mouth as opposed to injected intravenously; it came to be realised that this was due to hormonal ‘glucagon-like’ factors released from the upper gut. Therefore, he was involved in the early days of the work that led to the development of highly useful compounds widely used in the care of diabetic patients over the last decade, though, perhaps unexpectedly to him, much more in the patients with the far commoner Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) or even plain obesity. He sadly died at the end of last year at his home in Erin, Ontario, at the age of 90. He leaves his wife of 61 years, Gillian, and three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Derek Hockaday (1942-1947)

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