Dr Roy Fields (1954)

Sadly, my husband of 61 years, Dr Roy Fields, died suddenly and peacefully, sitting beside me on 24th June 2025. Roy was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in December 1933. As a boy and young man he sang regularly with the church choir. He attended church regularly until he was too infirm to do so.

He went to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School with a state scholarship, and went on to Queen’s College Cambridge after National Service in the RAF. He was a fighter control officer, which he enjoyed immensely and he had to decide whether to stay in the RAF, or go to University.  He chose Cambridge and studied Natural Sciences with great success. He arranged to do a doctorate with Robert Haszeldine, who was then appointed professor at UMIST, in Manchester and Roy also went to Manchester. He got his PhD and joined the lecturing staff and later became a senior lecturer there. Many of his students have described him as a true gentleman who was always ready to help if they had problems.

We met whilst baby sitting for mutual friends and married in 1964 and had 2 children, Mark and Alison. We have 7 grandchildren, 3 of whom are resident doctors in hospitals, 1 studying for a DPhil at Oxford, and the remaining 3 are undergraduates at York, Leeds and Nottingham. Roy was very proud of them all and very proud to have attended Queen’s College.

Obituary by Roy’s wife, Joan Fields