Roger died on February 22nd after a long battle with myeloma ( bone marrow cancer). The outstanding scholar of his year – despite close competition from several others – it’s easier to make the short list of what he wasn’t good at than list his command of just about everything else. His woodwork was average and he was rubbish at cricket and tennis. Otherwise, it was straight ‘A’s’ in everything. He was Senior Prefect in his last year and an excellent swimmer and front row forward. After school he went up to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences and from there into employment with BP as a geologist.

He had supreme organisational skills and both ran and discovered oil fields. After a spell with the American company, Conoco, he left the oil industry and devoted his time to business consultancy work and conservation. His major passion was fly fishing – particularly for salmon and sea trout – and took a rod with him wherever he travelled. He fished on every continent except Antarctica.

He finally settled in York with his second wife, Marion, after spells on the Isle of Wight and Cumbria. For the past twenty five years he and I fished four times a year in Scotland and, once again, he outclassed all others. Some of the beneficiaries of his passing will be the fish populations of the rivers he fished. All salmon caught in British waters have had to be released for several years now due to the effects on their numbers due to pollution and fish farming. Now many of the salmon that return to the river Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, in particular, will have the added benefit of not being caught at all.

Roger was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago and fought it with great determination until late last year when it started to get the better of him. He caught his last salmon three days before his 77th birthday in October. He leaves Marion and four children from his first marriage – all of whom he taught to cast the fly.

David Boardman (OC 1959-66).