David and Rosemary were the most wonderful mother and father in law one could ever ask for. As a foreigner living in the UK, away from my own family, their welcoming, kind affectionate manners were really important for me, and made me feel at home and loved.

The birth of my first child sadly coincided by a few days with Rosemary passing away after a long illness. In the years that followed, I found the support and affection from David really essential. I cannot overstate how important his regular, kind, reassuring presence in our family life has been over the past few years, some of which were far from easy. He moved close to us a few years ago and was always around and available to help in any way he could, as well as just keeping us company regularly and enjoying many family dinners together.

Despite being still very busy with his extremely important University work, he made the time to pick up my children every week from their childcare and then from school for 11 years, looking after them and teaching them a lot of great things, including sparking an interest in Science. This was not possible in the past year due to the pandemic, but we were able to see him outdoors regularly. 

He was with us and the entire family (including Neil, Lindsay and children, as well as often Robert and Erica) on yearly UK countryside holidays and more than once accompanied us to trips to Italy to meet my relatives, who really enjoyed having him around. I will miss him greatly but I would also like to remember the many, many happy moments we enjoyed over the years.