My brother, Roger Pugsley, who has died aged 80, was a chemist, a patent lawyer, an environmental activist and a charity fundraiser; a lifelong doer of good deeds for others. He used his considerable talents and cheerfulness to help people and the planet.
Born in Bristol, Roger was the son of Gwen (nee Wines) and Jack Pugsley, who worked for the family scrap metal firm, Pugsley & Co. They were both part of the local Quaker community.
After Sidcot, a Quaker co-educational boarding school in Somerset, Roger went on to do a degree in chemistry at Edinburgh University, where he met Gillian Carr, who was training to be a speech therapist. They married in 1964 and moved to Leeds, where Roger undertook his PhD (1968) in the laboratory of Professor Fred Dainton.
In 1966 he joined ICI, initially as a chemist, then in patents (after studying patent law there), eventually becoming head of patents in the dyestuffs division. He and Gillian moved to Huddersfield, then Rochdale, with their son and two daughters, and, after retirement from ICI in 2000, to York.
Outside work, while in Rochdale he was a founding member of the Naden Valley conservation group. He also took active roles in Fair Trade retail and Christian Aid, raising awareness and much-needed finances for these causes. As a member of the Sidcot Old Scholars Association, he served as treasurer, then president, and was a trustee of the educational trust fund.
During his younger days Roger played rugby for Ripon. He was a keen bridge player, and a Guardian reader to the end. He delighted in the daily cryptic crossword, which he mostly solved. A lover of the arts, he supported many charitable and musical organisations – he and Gillian were the first patrons of the National Centre for Early Music in York.
Keen walkers, Roger and Gillian completed all Wainwright’s Lake District walks plus, in Scotland, a considerable number of Munros (mostly in shorts). They loved Greece, backpacking through most of the mainland and islands in their retirement.
Roger was talented, kind, loyal and a good friend. He is survived by Gillian, their children, William, Josie and Eleanor, six grandchildren, and his siblings, Naomi and me.
