Dr Morley Hutchinson

Dr Hutchinson, the grandson of Charles Thorburn Hutchinson, a Lord Mayor of York, was a Yorkshireman by temperament, inclination and inheritance, but never lived nor worked in the region.

He was born in Exeter, his father a civil engineer.

He grew up in Solihull and went to Solihull School where he played rugby, cricket, and ran, his best distance being the quarter mile.

Focused and single-minded, he was so determined to do zoology at university that the school was obliged to provide him with the necessary courses.

He got a place to read it at Nottingham, but after graduating, switched disciplines and took a diploma in agricultural science at Cambridge.

Inspired by his lecturer John Hammond to go into academia, he returned to Nottingham to complete a PhD in Agricultural Chemistry, and was subsequently appointed to the Chemical Pathology Department at St Thomas's Hospital, London. There he taught and worked in the endocrinology field, but specialised in human reproduction.

He was awarded a sabbatical to study reproductive endocrinology at Harvard. It was a happy episode which only came to end because his strong sense of moral obligation made him return to St Thomas's.

In 1978, he was appointed to a senior lectureship in the Department of Developmental Biology at Aberdeen University.

There he and Helen Kenley became friends, marrying in 1982. During the cuts of the 80s, Developmental Biology was closed, and he moved to the Department of Agriculture as a senior lecture, hence almost closing the circle of his academic life.

When later funding cuts meant staff had to be laid off, Dr Hutchinson was concerned that the most vulnerable were those with young families and the heaviest financial obligations. He went on record as suggesting that senior staff whose jobs were secure should take a voluntary cut in salary, the savings making it possible to avoid redundancies. His was a lone voice.

He retired in 1998, and was then appointed an honorary senior lecturer, continuing to deliver lectures, but without accepting a fee.

He did it for the sheer pleasure of it. He never used notes, and could keep an audience of 200 enthralled. Many of his students described him as inspirational.

In retirement, he researched the development of endocrinology in the 1920s, his work resurrecting the reputation of a scientist whose contribution had been overlooked and forgotten.

Interested in architecture and the built environment, Dr Hutchinson was chairman of the Old Aberdeen Heritage Society, and campaigned to preserve the character of the old city.

Some of the battles he found himself involved in were against the university authorities.

As a member of the North East of Scotland Ethics Committee, he stood up for patients' rights, frequently questioning the value of studies which would have subjected them to indignities or loss of personal privacy. He was always guided by principle and integrity.

He is survived by his wife Helen. They had no children.