John PHILLIPS

PHILLIPS, Dr. John Edward (FRSC)
1934 - 2012
John E. Phillips (University of British Columbia Professor Emeritus) was born in Montreal on Dec. 20, 1934, the son of William Charles and Violet Mildred (Lewis) Phillips from Nova Scotia. He enjoyed excellent health until the onset of pancreatic cancer in early 2011. On June 29, 2012, John passed away peacefully at his home in South Surrey, B.C. His family moved in 1949 from Montreal to Truro, N.S. where he excelled academically in high-school as an all-round student on the rugby and curling teams, had leading roles in musicals, and was on the Student Council. Throughout his eight years of University training he was continually supported by generous scholarships, initially at Dalhousie University where he obtained his B.Sc. (1956) with first class honours in Biology and the University Medal for Science. As an undergraduate, he did some of the first ecological research on phosphate nutrient recycling in lakes using radioisotopes. This formed the basis of his M.Sc. thesis (1957). The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) awarded him a Special Overseas Scholarship to complete his Ph.D. in Cellular and Comparative Physiology, under the supervision of Professor Sir Vincent Wigglesworth, in the Zoology Department of Cambridge University, England, as a member of Gonville and Caius College. This enabled him and his wife Eleanor to start a family, travel throughout Britain, and take in the cultural offerings in London.
John became an Assistant Professor of Biology at Dalhousie University in 1960. In 1964, he joined the UBC Zoology Dept., and became Department Head from 1991-1996 and Professor Emeritus in 2000. He supervised 30 graduate students, several post-doctoral fellows from abroad, and was fortunate to host many prominent faculty visitors as collaborators in his laboratory. His group pioneered the field of epithelial transport mechanisms and their neuro- hormonal control, including renal function, which enables various arthropods to inhabit diverse extreme environments. He especially appreciated the work of his former M.Sc. student and later research associate, Joan [Meredith] Martin, who managed his research laboratory for over 30 years. He was co-author of some 150 research papers, and was particularly proud of his graduate students who became leading researchers and faculty members at top universities across North America. John was on the editorial boards of 4 international scientific journals. He reviewed several major departments of biology, including at the University of Singapore where he also acted as an external examiner for two years. He received several awards for his group's life-long research contributions: including election to the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) in 1977, a Killam Senior Fellowship for sabbatical leave in Cambridge in 1980, a UBC Killam Research Prize (1988/9), the Fry Medal (2000) from the Canadian Society of Zoologists for which he served as Secretary, Vice-Pres. and President throughout the 1970's, and the James Chair at St. F.X. University in 1993. He was on the executive of the American Society of Zoologists (now SICB) as chairperson of the Comparative Physiology and Biochemical Section, and served on occasion as an advisor to the National Science Foundation university grants program in Washington, D.C. He was appointed by the Privy Council of Canada as a member of the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for 4 years (1983-87) where he was involved in a major review of the scientific infrastructure needs at Canadian Universities, having earlier chaired a NSERC Grant Selection Committee. At UBC he represented the Graduate Faculty on the University Senate, and chaired many University-wide committees.
John's other great avocation was classical music. A trained tenor, he performed two recitals on the CBC Maritime Network, frequently had lead roles in musical productions at Dalhousie University and in the community, and was a soloist with the Halifax Symphony Orchestra. He belonged to several leading choral groups. On moving to Vancouver in 1964, he joined the Vancouver Opera Chorus for 4 years, and was a 1st tenor with the Vancouver Bach Choir (VBC) for 43 years. He found his musical and scientific careers wonderfully complimentary. Singing recharged his academic batteries, while trips to present research papers provided opportunities to attend operas and symphony concerts on five continents. His other great loves were history, philosophy, family genealogy, and gardening. He was especially proud of his large immediate family, many of whom have carried on the singing tradition, and who all live locally.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Eleanor (Richardson); 5 married children: Heather (Rob) Clark, Beth (Bent) Nielsen, Dr. Jonathan (Jess Lorimer) Phillips, Catherine (Martin) Ward, and Wendy (David) Newson; 18 grandchildren: Jennifer (Dale) Alparaque, Michael (Amanda Wood) Clark, David, Jamie and Jon Clark; Tristan and Kiera Nielsen; Karla (Jeff) Amadatsu, Daniel, Peter and Conor Phillips; Sergei, Yuliya, Snezhana, Alyona and Sasha Ward; and Calder and Cameron Newson; 4 great-grandchildren: Ben and Carys Amadatsu; and Kaius and Koen Alparaque. John is survived by his sister-in law Nancy [brother William L. deceased in 2012], brothers Dr. Robin (Ruth) in Nova Scotia, and David (Halga) in Alberta, and their families.
The Phillips family would like to express their sincerest thanks to Dr. Robert Cheyne, Dr. Charles King, Dr. Sharon Duncan and the Fraser Health Home Care nurses [especially Kerry, Christine and Kirsten] who provided care and support for him throughout this past year.
A service to celebrate John's life will be held on Saturday, August 4 at 2 p.m. at St. Faith's Anglican Church, 7284 Cypress St. at 57th Ave., Vancouver. In lieu of flowers, donations to a local arts organization or charity of your choice would be appreciated. Messages of condolence may be e-mailed to jephillips@telus.net.