LEON A P KANE-MAGUIRE
Professor of Chemistry, University of Wollongong.

Born 4th May 1942.
Passed away 27th January 2011, aged 68 years.

Beloved husband of Barbara; loved father of Andrew, John and Nicky; Loving twin brother of Noel and Uncle to Kim..

All relatives, friends and colleagues were invited to attend Leon`s funeral service held at the University of Wollongong Hall, Northfields Avenue, North Wollongong on Thursday, 3rd February 2011 at 2.00pm.

Leon was one of my lecturers at University College, Cardiff (Wales, UK) when I was an undergraduate in the Chemistry Department (1971-1974).  I subsequently went on to do a PhD at the same university (1974-1977) and got to know him very well.  He was such a great man, always supportive and very enthusiastic.

Leon seemed to be “anecdote-prone”.  One I remember in particular – “the fishing trip” – our group in the Inorganic Chemistry Department travelled to West Wales for a day out on a chartered fishing vessel.  We went down the night before, so that we could get a whole day’s fishing in.  It was Leon’s job to bring his tent, and share it with some others.  I never forget his face when he opened the boot of his car – the tent was there, but the poles were not.  He stood there for about 30 seconds just looking at the tent, wondering how this could have happened.  He got so much (light-hearted) abuse for that.  He ended up draping the canvas between 2 parked cars and sleeping under it with a couple of others.  He looked quite rough in the morning – not sure how much sleep he got.

A great loss.

Cledwyn Hughes

(Now living and working in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK)

11/2/2011