Dr Brian Smith, Emeritus Reader in Physics, died on 12 May after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Brian was among the founder members of physics faculty, appointed in 1962, so he made friends and contacts across campus and was widely known and respected.
He held a number of university-wide jobs: he was Senior Proctor in the late '60s at a time of radicalism and sit-ins and Chairman of Community Services from 1970-76 when these services were really just developing; he laid sound foundations for the current system.
Within Physics, Brian was always in the vanguard of teaching innovations and over the years used a large range of teaching modes. He was the first physicist to introduce assessed coursework, when teaching the first-year core course 'AppliedPhysics and Energy' in the 1980s, and he used a variety of interesting group-teaching techniques in his management courses.
It was therefore natural for him to be appointed as the University's Academic Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator for three years from 1989. He had an excellent reputation as a teacher and was highly commended for a Sussex Teaching Award two years running. In 2001, he was awarded an Alumni Fellowship in recognition of his many contributions to the development of teaching.
In 1989, Brian changed his interests and set up the Science with Management Studies degree, which he ran single-handedly but very successfully for 10 years before passing it over to SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Research.
Within the department, Brian acted as Subject Chair and in 1995-96 was the one and only Director of MAPS after the formation of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and in the run-up to the formation of CPES.
Latterly he had been writing a history of the University, which he was sadly unable to finish.
Dr Robert Smith,
Emeritus Reader in Astronomy