Born: 28/04/1936 Died: 10/06/2021 Speciality: Non-Medical Designatory Letters: BSc Wales 1953, PhD Wales 1959, DSc Edin 1970, Hon DSc Edin 1989; Wales 1991; Stirling1995; Leic 1997
Dai Rees was born in Silloth, Cumberland but educated in Wales. He attended Hawarden Grammar School and received his BSc and PhD degrees in chemistry from University College of North Wales, Bangor.
Rees was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Edinburgh from 1960 until 1970, researching carbohydrate configuration and structure. He then joined Unilever, where he rose to become Principal Scientist. He left in 1982 to become director of the National Institute for Medical Research before serving as chief executive of the Medical Research Council from 1987 to 1996. He was president of the European Science Foundation between 1994 and 1999.
In 1970, Rees was awarded both the Carbohydrate Chemistry Award by the Chemical Society and the Colworth Medal by the Biochemical Society. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1981 and delivered the Royal Society's Philips Lecture in 1984. Knighted in the 1993 Birthday Honours, he was one of the 58 founding fellows of the Learned Society of Wales in 2010.
Honorary DSc degrees were conferred by Edinburgh 1989, Wales1991, Leicester1997, and York 2007. Other Fellowships included FIBiol 1983, Hon FRCP 1986, Hon Fellow University North Wales 1988, Fellow Kings College London 1989, FRCPEd1998 and Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dai was appreciative, kind and facilitative, especially in enabling talented young scientists. He was highly intelligent and thoughtful yet very down to earth in his approach. When the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was intent on reducing expenditure on research Dai robustly and successfully defended its value. Reflecting his dual academic and commercial background, he understood the need for a better relationship between academic science and technology and the requirements of society and industry. He advocated the transfer of academic research findings into industrial processes to the benefit of all concerned.
He married Myfanwy Margaret Parry Owen in 1959. He leaves his wife a daughter, two sons and 3 grandson and a granddaughter.
