John Walter Guerrier Lund CBE. 27 November 1912 — 21 March 2015

John Lund's life and career were rich in the unexpected. Although his early education was deficient in science, he ultimately altered the character and practice of his adopted subject, especially in Britain. Different traditions in systematic and physiological ecology were absorbed from successive contacts with two leading authorities, and combined to good effect in his main work on the ecology of freshwater planktonic algae. Insistence on factual specifics and accuracy, and avoidance of over-generalization, were encouraged by a long wartime occupation in forensic science with consequent legal evidence. He was forthright in his opinions; he benefited and inspired a succession of younger scientists and assistants. Cooperative work with senior scientists led to some ground-breaking innovations, including that with his wife, Hilda, involving the extension of her mycological work to epidemics of chytrid parasitism in planktonic population dynamics. In retirement he devoted much time to acquiring uncommon fluency in the Russian language, which was put to good effect in private and official matters.