Albert George Fishburn CChem FRSC

Seventy years on from leaving Cardiff Technical College (later UWIST, and Cardiff University from 1988) as Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Chemistry to become Head of ICI's Pharmaceutical Department in 1943, Cardiff born Albert George Fishburn died on 3rd September 2013. 

After sitting his PhC and AIC (Grad RIC/ARIC) examinations in 1933 and 1934 at the College, he was in 1934 appointed to the Chemistry Department of newly arrived Herbert Ben Watson from Bangor in succession to his predecessor Dr Arnall who'd been accidentally killed by an exploding Carius tube. 

Fishburn was proud of joining Watson, who was often lauded by Sir Ewart Jones for his 'Modern Theories of Organic Chemistry'.

Fishburn was well remembered at Cardiff, as he'd had a hand in drafting the syllabus for the Welsh B.Pharm. and by frequent return visits. Likewise his colleagues at the Pharmaceutical Department of ICI at Blackley, Alderley Park and Macclesfield (such as Dan Corrigan, Arnold Fogg and the late Diana Simpson) thought highly of him, as under his guidance the Department had grown greatly. He reminisced on early dosage forms of penicillin and of the relief when Penicillin V and other 'oral' antibiotics took over.

Fishburn mentioned how at the end of World War II there was an urgent need to establish products throughout the world and of drafting the necessary technical data sheets. At first there were the difficulties of travel, such as by the 4-power military occupation of Austria, and then the effects of expansion and diversification. Fishburn took early retirement from ICI in 1969; and then took up another busy life with the DHSS in relation to the Medicines Act, followed by work for the Department of Overseas Development that took him to Indonesia and to Hungary for the World Bank.

Towards the end of his life, apart from being shaky on the legs Fishburn valued that his continued good health had been helped by having drawn the State Retirement Pension for more than thirty five years. In his 100th year he had a successful cataract operation and the affected lenses replaced by 'made to measure' plastic ones to give normal vision and to discard his spectacles after 85 years!

Fishburn's wife of 72 years predeceased him by a year, also at 103 years. In the photograoh at his 100th birthday he and his wife Iris are the proud Great Grandparents to Daniel.