Jim Hamilton

The family returned to Scotland on the MV Rimutaka in 1944, through the Panama Canal, then to New York via Guantanamo Bay and finally across the Atlantic as part of a large convoy comprising men and materials which were to form part of the D-Day landings. The family eventually returned to Glasgow where Jim attended Rutherglen Academy and was an active member of the Kings Park Parish Church.

Inspired by his namesake uncle, Surgeon Rear Admiral James Hamilton, Jim undertook his national service in the Royal Navy from 1946-1948. He then attended Glasgow University, where his studies were interrupted by a period in hospital with tuberculosis, contracted while caring for TB patients in the Royal Navy. Jim's talent shone through and he graduated with first-class honours in zoology in 1953.

Jim's first post after graduating was as an assistant lecturer in zoology at Glasgow University from 1953-1957. As an undergraduate, Jim had first visited the university's Rossdhu field station for the second-year freshwater biology field course and also used it as a base for his honours project on the effect of sand pit washing from a local quarry on the fauna of the River Fruin. Jim's new duties were to help Harry Slack with the running of the field station and with the freshwater field courses on Loch Lomond.

It was during his lecturing period in the zoology department that Jim met Frances, whom he married in St Andrews university chapel in 1958.

In 1957, Jim was appointed as a lecturer in zoology at Paisley Technical College (now the University of Paisley). He was promoted there to senior lecturer in biology in 1970, where he remained until his retirement in 1989. During these three decades of teaching, he educated and stimulated hundreds of students.

Following his first scientific paper on zooplankton in the Dhub Lochan, which was presented to an international audience abroad, Jim published a number of scientific papers including his work on the biology of Powan in Loch Lomond, with Harry Slack and others, the River Fruin, aquatic invertebrates on St Kilda and an important review of the impact of recent human inf luences on the ecology of Loch Lomond. He co-authored the first bibliography of publications on Loch Lomond, an account of the Glasgow University field station at Rossdhu and a review of freshwater research in Scotland.

However, Jim's great strength was not in research but in teaching and in his lifelong support of freshwater biology in Scotland and abroad. He was a long-term member of the Freshwater Biological Association and of SIL, the international limnological society. He was a founder member of the Scottish Freshwater Group and of the Loch Lomond Research Group, acting as secretary to the latter for many years. He also served on several other important committees, including the Loch Leven Research Advisory Committee and the Scottish Examination Board. Jim was always available to give his time and advice in relation to any aspect of freshwater research and many of us received his wise counsel over the years.

After retirement, Jim continued with these scientific interests but also with his other pursuits. He was a keen gardener, played squash every week until well into his sixties and was a member of Elderslie Golf Club for more than 25 years.

He travelled extensively with Frances in their joint retirement, including a roundthe-world trip in 1987, taking in a return visit to New Zealand for the first and last time since his wartime journeys.

He is survived by his daughters, Helen and Margaret, his son, Alan, and his granddaughter, Tori.

James D Hamilton; born October 30, 1928, died April 18, 2006.