Professor A. S. Jones (1926–2003)
Professor Albert Stanley (Stan) Jones, who died peacefully after a very short illness on January 6th, 2003, will be remembered by those who knew him professionally as a pioneering figure in the world of nucleic acid chemistry and as a co-founder (with the late Professor R. T. Walker) of NAR.
The public figure of Stan was of a very private man who very successfully kept his academic and private lives very much apart. Those of us who were privileged to know him well will remember him as a caring, kindly man of intense religious faith who was devoted to his family and his Church, but who also had many outside interests which he pursued vigorously, particularly after his retirement.
Stan was born in Birmingham. His early education was at Waverley Grammar School and Birmingham University where he took a First Class degree in 1944. Being a student during the Second World War must have been an interesting experience and his description of fire watching and related tasks was hilarious. A PhD in 1947 from the Haworth Group began what was to be a long and illustrious research career. After being a Beit Memorial Fellow, he began research into nucleic acid chemistry, so forming the nucleic acid group that was to continue for almost fifty years.
At that time nucleic acid chemistry was in its infancy and, without modern technology, progress was painfully slow. In the early 1960s two factors transformed the work of the group: firstly, the development of modern techniques of analysis and separation methodology and secondly, the arrival of a young aspiring colleague, Richard Walker, into the group. From this time on, rapid strides were made and the group expanded and gained in stature both in the UK and overseas. This impetus was further increased with the foundation in 1973 of NAR with Jones and Walker as co-editors, together with Dieter Söll from Yale University. In the next two decades, the group made many significant advances in the field and maintained its high reputation, which continued after Stan’s retirement in 1988 until the untimely death of Dick Walker in 1997.
After he retired Stan devoted more time to his outside interests, continuing his lay preaching, rambling over most of the UK, becoming involved in the University of the Third Age, and studying railways about which he had a vast knowledge. Sadly his first wife Joan died in 1991.
Stan found new happiness with his second marriage in 1996 to the Rev. Gillian Gibson who, along with Peter and Pauline, children from the first marriage, survives him.
Contributed by Paul Coe, University of Birmingham