Tributes paid to Nottingham professor Dr David Ray

A UNIVERSITY of Nottingham professor who was a leader in his field has died.

Dr David Ray, who specialised in neurotoxicology, died aged 58 after suffering from pneumoblastoma – a rare lung tumour – for several years.

The researcher began his studies in London, where he obtained an upper second honours degree jointly in physiology and biochemistry.

He continued his studies in neurotoxicology, which looks at damage to the human brain and nervous system.

In particular, he examined the influence of systemic factors on the neurotoxicology of hyperbaric oxygen and completed his PhD with financial support from the Ministry of Defence.

It was while doing his PhD that he met his wife, Joanna Deen, now the Rev Ray, priest at St James, St Martin's and All Saints churches in Bilborough. They were married for more than 33 years.

After working at the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit at Carshalton, London, where he became head of the neurotoxicology department, Dr Ray led relocations of the unit to the University of Leicester and then the University of Nottingham in 2001.

At Nottingham, he was appointed a special professor and his team was renamed the MRC Applied Neuroscience Group.

His father, Ted, said his son's enthusiasm for science was apparent from a very early age.

"As a boy, David had an active and enquiring mind, which led to the only occasion that I recall taking him severely to task, when he almost set fire to the garden shed while trying to make fireworks prior to Bonfire Night," he said.

"To David, work came before everything else – nothing stood in its way. Even a few weeks before his death, when he could no longer stand, his career would lift him from his bed into a wheelchair, then by black taxi to work.

"That was the measure of David's will and application."

Dr Ray, who lived in Wollaton, was a keen musician and, as well as composing his own music, sang in St Peter's Church Choir.

He also enjoyed cooking and cycling and went on a number of cathedral trips with the choir – drawn from the city churches of All Saints, St Mary and St Peter.

He had recently been to Tenerife with Joanna, who undertook a two-hour vigil with prayer at the time of his death.

"David was vastly intelligent and always had a passion for scientific thought and won several awards in toxicology," she said. "He will be greatly missed by all for his wonderful wit, kindness and great generosity of spirit."

Dr Ray was a member of various neurotoxicology and toxicology groups, including the WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (Toxicology), the UK Food Standards Agency Committee on Toxicology, and the UK Defra Advisory Committee on Pesticides.

He was also a founder member of the International Neurotoxicology Association and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Neurotoxicology, Food and Chemical Toxicology, and International Journal of Toxicology.

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