Donald MacLusky

DONALD Samuel MacLusky, who spent his life lecturing on agriculture, particularly dairy farming, in Asia and Africa as well as in the United Kingdom, has died aged 85.

He was a quiet, sensitive and considerate man with a love of books and enjoyed studying ancient monuments and the history of the English language, but found an enthusiasm for working with cows when on work experience at a diary farm at Burley-in-Wharfedale before studying for his BSc in agriculture at Leeds University.

He was born in Leeds, one, of three brothers and a sister whose father worked in the gas industry.

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When he was 11, the family moved to Leamington Spa and he attended Warwick School. At the outbreak of the Second World War the family returned to Leeds and for a short period he attended Woodhouse Grove School before going to Leeds College of Technology.

At a youth club in Horsforth where the family lived, a local councillor advised him to apply to Leeds University and he gained a place.

After graduating, he went to the North of Scotland College of Agriculture at Dingwall, near Inverness, which was attached to Aberdeen University, from where he travelled around advising crofters about farming.

After a couple of years, he moved to the Hannah Dairy Research Institute in Ayr and gained a PhD in cattle nutrition from Glasgow University before moving again to Newcastle University where he lectured in dairy farming.

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From there he went to Kuala Lumpur as Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Malaya, and stayed for 10 years.

At one stage, he visited Cuba and was offered a job by Fidel Castro, but he did not take it.

His travels later took him to Bunda College University of Malawi, in the capital Lilongwe, where he was a professor and head of the livestock department and stayed for four years.

He returned home, exhausted, in the late 1970s and settled in Knaresborough.

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Despite a subsequent heart attack and declining health he took a small job at the farm at Temple Newsam, Leeds where he was able to combine his love of animals and enjoyment of working with children.

He was such a strong and self- sufficient person that when he was taken ill he went home from work then walked to the doctor’s surgery where he was told he had suffered a heart attack.

He was a member of the British Grasslands Society, Countryside Alliance and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

In later life he lost his sight so could no longer read or write letters, both of which had been significant parts of his life.

Mr MacLusky, who never married, is survived by his sister Patricia. His two elder brothers predeceased him.

A funeral service will be held at Stonefall Crematorium, Harrogate, on Wednesday, at 3.40pm.