Tributes to ‘perfect scientist’

TRIBUTES have been paid to a leading palaeontologist and naturalist from Henley who has died.

Richard Fortey passed away at his home in St Andrew’s Road last Friday following a short illness.

Dr Fortey, 79, had a long career at the Natural History Museum in London where he was a senior palaeontologist.

He was a world-leading expert on fossil arthropods, a type of invertebrate, and has written numerous books and appeared in documentary films on the BBC on his own and alongside Sir David Attenborough.

Dr Fortey’s colleague and successor as fossil arthropod researcher at the Natural History Museum, Dr Greg Edgecombe, described his impact on the field as “enormous”.

He said: “Richard published brilliant, ground-breaking research on fossils for more than 50 years, while breaking research on fossils for more than 50 years, while also sharing his infectious enthusiasm for nature with millions of readers and viewers.

“His contributions to knowledge of his beloved trilobites, the geological time scale in Britain and around the world, and reconstructing the configuration of ancient continents and terranes are enormous.

“Many of us at the museum and science colleagues globally will miss him as an intellectual leader, a mentor and a friend.”

Professor Mike Benton, head of vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Bristol, described the breadth of Dr Fortey’s interests as rare among scientists today.

He said: “He was a very extraordinary person. One might say the last of a breed in that he was a general naturalist in the kind of Victorian mould. He knew lots about lots of different things.

“He was an extremely affable person, a raconteur, full of amusing anecdotes and stories and always very keen to meet people and to help younger colleagues. He took that very seriously.”

Professor Benton said Dr Fortey would be widely missed by the scientific community.

He said: “He did much more than just the bare bones of his job. He took it upon himself to undertake a lot of additional tasks, like publicising science, speaking, writing books and acting as a mentor for many younger scientists.

“I have seen endless tributes on Facebook and elsewhere, coming from all over the world. He made friends across Scandinavia, North America, China, everywhere.”

Dr Fortey’s interest in fossils began at the age of 14 when he discovered a trilobite, a type of extinct arthropod which died out 250 million years ago, while breaking rocks on holiday in Wales.

In addition to his expertise in fossils, Dr Fortey had a lifelong passion for fungi, examining his finds in a small laboratory at his home, which he shared with his wife, Jackie.

Over the years, he authored many books, including Life: An Unauthorised Biography (1997) cited by science writer John Gribbin as “the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth” and, his most recent, Close Encounters of a Fungal Kind, which he presented at the Henley Literary Festival in October.

Dr Fortey received widespread recognition for his achievements, including an OBE in the 2023 New Year’s Honours List, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997, and being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009.

His friend and fellow naturalist Linda Seward, who lives in Cookley Green, described his passing as an “immense loss.”

The pair were part of the Fungus Survey of Oxfordshire, a volunteer group dedicated to recording local fungi, which Mrs Seward said Dr Fortey contributed to “immeasurably” as its president.

She said: “He was a real Renaissance man, he knew so much about everything. He was teaching me how to use my microscope and a bird landed on the feeder outside and he knew exactly what it was.

“He knew so much about nature in all its aspects that he was just forever amazing me with his incredible knowledge. He was a very busy person but he always took the time with me, and other members of the group.

“Although he became a scientist, he also could have easily studied English and become a writer. I think that's one of the reasons why his books are so popular. He had such a delicate and beautiful turn of phrase. He would teach you and you wouldn’t even realise that you were learning anything.

“He had a real sense of humour and he also was a great imitator. He would put on a cockney accent and just make you laugh.”

Mrs Seward recalled his interaction with the audience at the Henley Literary Festival last year in which he explained the life cycle of a mushroom.

She said: “Richard was talking about how spores are dispersed. He had a little umbrella and he just sat on the stage and opened it up and said this is how a mushroom opens up its cap. He looked so adorable and so wonderful and everybody fully got it. That’s just typical of the way he taught people. He used everyday language and he never talked down to you.”

Throughout his career, Dr Fortey advocated for using common names for fungi to make the subject more accessible, even writing a piece on the topic for the British Mycological Society.

Mrs Seward said: “A lot of mycologists only use Latin names, which can be a real turn-off for people who are beginners, in particular. He argued that using common names was a good way to keep people interested, and if they’re going to go forward with it, they will learn the other names later on.

“That’s just an example of how he was always thinking and always trying to get new people interested in mycology.”

Fellow nature enthusiast Vincent Ruane, from Caversham, who is the Henley Standard’s Nature Notes columnist, described Dr Fortey as “one in a million.”

He recalled meeting him after reading The Wood for the Trees, a book in which Dr Fortey wrote about a Grim’s Dyke Wood, a small Chiltern beech wood in Henley that he bought with his wife in 2011.

Mr Ruane said the pair bonded over their love of the outdoors and often corresponded about their discoveries, sharing foraging tips. He said: “What I loved about him was that he was so normal for someone with such an immense brain and such ability. He was very humble and very quick to share anything with anybody and everybody.”

He added: “I was intrigued by his understanding not just of his expertise in palaeontology, especially trilobites, but of his knowledge of geology and the whole natural world.

“The thing that grabbed me about him most of all was his never-ending curiosity about anything and everything. As far as I'm concerned, he was the perfect scientist because he never ever gave up wanting to learn more.”

Dr Fortey was a supporter of climate action group Greener Henley and its chair Kate Oldridge and secretary Diana Barnett paid tribute to him. They said: “Greener Henley was very fortunate to have Richard as a friend and a supporter. His love and understanding of the natural world and his willingness to share his knowledge captivated audiences of all ages.

“Anyone who has read any of his very readable books will have gleaned from them, that Richard had a terrific depth of knowledge and a keen sense of humour. Greener Henley will miss his sage words and generous nature.”

Last summer, Dr Fortey took part in a Nature Discovery Day in Mill Meadows organised by the group where he ran a stall explaining the importance of invertebrates to the local ecosystem.

His “Professor Fortey’s Fabulous Fungi Roadshow” was described as a “very popular” attraction at two of Greener Henley’s fairs.

Dr Fortey also entered a poetry competition run by the group during Great Big Green Week and came first in the David Grubb Memorial Prize.

Sue Ryan, founder of the Henley Literary Festival, described Dr Fortey’s death as “such sad news”.

She said: “He was a great friend of the literary festival and was hugely popular with our audiences and we were proud to have such a distinguished author from Henley.

“He managed to explain complex subjects with ease and humour summed up in a lasting image of him on stage holding an umbrella above his head as if he was a mushroom.”

Dr Fortey was born to parents Frank and Margaret and grew up in West London. He was educated at Ealing Grammar School for Boys before going on to study at Kings College Cambridge.

He was previously president of the Geological Society of London, the Palaeontological Association and Palaeontographical Society. He has been awarded the Frink Medal of the Zoological Society, the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society and the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society, the Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society and the Lewis Thomas Medal of Rockefeller University, NY.

Dr Fortey is survived by his wife Jackie and his four grown-up children. Dominic, Rebecca, Julia and Leo and four grandchildren, Herbie, Sophia, Luke and Alice. A full obituary will be published in the Henley Standard in due course.