Jack Howard Botting was born in Croydon, London and attended Selhurst Grammar School where he developed his lifelong passion for Rugby and captained the School First Fifteen. He graduated B.Pharm at Chelsea College in 1954 and immediately commenced postgraduate research under the supervision of Professor Mary Lockett. On completing his Ph.D. in 1957, Jack entered National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was posted to Army Operational Research Group. Seconded to the MRC Laboratories at Holly Hill, London he carried out research on acclimatization to heat and the assessment of stress in human subjects. In 1959 Jack returned to Chelsea as Lecturer in Pharmacology at a time when pharmacology was entering a golden age of drug research and discovery. Chelsea had many fine and dedicated teachers but Jack was exceptional in his eye for detail and in the pastoral care of his students. Liaison with industrial and government research centres was an important part of his responsibilities which allowed him to secure places for students in their third year intercalated research course. Many former students have spoken warmly of how Jack helped them obtain positions after graduating and how he would keep track of their careers. Jack himself had a year's sabbatical at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel (1969-70) and returned as Senior Lecturer to Chelsea until 1989 when he became acting Head of Department prior and during the merger of Kings and Chelsea College. In 1990 he decided to retire from academic life and took the position of Scientific Director of the Research Defence Society until he finally retired in 1995. Jack held many influential positions on academic committees in the University of London (as it was) including the chairmanship of the Board of Studies in Pharmacology. His major contributions to teaching pharmacology was recognised by the Society by the award of the Rang Prize in 2011. Jack married Renia Botting, a fellow Chelsea student, in 1958 and Renia was still at his side when he left us in July 2012.
