MGMS founder member and one of the leading lights in the development of computational chemistry, Professor Graham Richards, passed away on February 11th at the age of 85.
Graham was the first chairperson of the MGMS (then known simply as the Molecular Graphics Society) more than 40 years ago. He served as Head of the Department of Chemistry at Oxford University from 1997-2006 during a period of great change there, during which his organisational and business acumen served both the University and the Department very well. Graham’s research team has produced many people who have gone on to carve highly successful careers in computational chemistry and biology in industry and in academia, advancing the subject and its applications hugely. He was also the author of several books on the topic, and was a co-founder of Oxford Molecular Ltd. in 1989, and later of InhibOx, now Oxford Drug Design, which provides computational chemistry and biology services to pharma and biotech companies.
Having been born on the Wirral in 1939, Graham was educated at Birkenhead School before going up to Oxford in 1958 having been awarded a scholarship to Brasenose College to study chemistry. Despite this, he retained a faint Liverpool accent throughout his life! Graham was an emeritus Fellow of Brasenose, and a brief news item and obituary for Graham can be found on their website at https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/about-brasenose/news/2909-professor-graham-richards .
The MGMS would like to pass on its deepest sympathies and condolences to Graham’s family and colleagues – and indeed his other friends. Many of us in the Society today are feeling the loss of a friend. He will be very greatly missed.
The Society will look for opportunities for remembrance of Graham in due course.
