Biophysical Society Bulletin | July-August 2024

In Memoriam

Thomas (Tom) B. Bolton Thomas (Tom) B. Bolton (1941– 2024) passed away on May 27, 2024, after a short illness. He was born on November 14, 1941 in Sunderland, England. After

single cell patch clamp electrophysiology and laser confocal imaging. He was a master of the single and double sucrose gap techniques and hand-built some of his lab’s early patch clamp equipment. Many of those who came to Tom’s lab were inspired to find their own success all over the world. Tom served on Wellcome and British Heart Foundation grant panels, was chair of a Higher Education Funding Council Basic Medical and Dental Science Research Assessment Exercise panel, and was non-executive director at St. Hellier's Health care Trust. He was a member of the British Pharmacological Society, Physiological Society, Biophysical Society, Save Brit ish Science, Biochemical Society, University Federation Animal Welfare, and Royal College Veterinary Surgeons. In 1998 he was elected to Fellowships of the Academy of Medical Scienc es and Academia Europaea in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science. In 2005, Tom’s scientific contribu tions were recognized with a Physiology Society meeting in Oxford, bringing together investigators from across the world. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Kings ton University in recognition of his outstanding contributions and development of teaching. Tom will be remembered for his thoroughness, dedication to quality, and commitment to critical straightforward thinking. Away from the lab he was known as a tough competitor at squash and five-a-side football, as a weight-lifter, as a fast driver of high-end cars, as a do-it-yourself enthusiast, and as a connoisseur of curries. Tom is predeceased by his wife, Pat (née Moore), who he married in 1961, as well as his son Nicholas. He is survived by his sons Grant and Kirk and five grandchildren.

his father, Tom, was killed in July 1941 when his plane was shot down over the North Sea, the younger Tom and his mother, Winnie (née Halstead), settled in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, and Tom

Thomas (Tom) B. Bolton

was educated at Woodhouse Grove School in Bradford. He obtained a First Class Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology at the University of London, a PhD in Pharma cology, and a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine. He was then admitted to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as a practicing veterinary surgeon. For many years he was the vet responsible for the animal facility at St. George's Hospital Medical School (now St. George's University of London), which was where he dedicated most of his working life to teaching, research, and university leadership. Tom first became interested in research and particularly smooth muscle research through his time at the Department of Pharmacology Oxford University, where he was a Royal Society Locke Research Fellow at Brasenose College. At St. George’s he attained the position of Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology and also served as the Dean of Research and Development. He built a re nowned smooth muscle research group, which specialized in investigating ionic events and associated ion channels of smooth muscle cells using cutting-edge technologies, such as

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July/August 2024

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