JOHN Fuller was the first professor of hotel management at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. At the time he was the only such professor at a British university.

Fuller came to Glasgow in 1959 as director of the Scottish Hotel School. He had previously been in charge of the hotel management department at Battersea College of Technology in London.

He started work as a trainee in the kitchens of the Regent Palace Hotel in London, and during the war he served with the RAF catering branch, latterly as deputy command catering officer in the Far East. From 1972-86, he was an honorary catering adviser to the RAF.

It was in 1966 that Strathclyde University decided to appoint him as their first professor of hotel management, where he was involved in introducing a three-year course leading to the award of a BA degree.

He carried out studies of hotel operations and training for a number of overseas governments including India, Israel, Cyprus, and Rhodesia.

When he retired from the directorship of the Scottish Hotel School in 1970, Professor Fuller had a spell as visiting professor at the University of Surrey. He had previously held similar positions at Michigan State University in the US. He also lectured at Cornell and at the University of Missouri and the Ecole Hoteliere at Lausanne in Switzerland.

He was a council member of the Hotel and Catering Institute and the author of several textbooks. He was also catering series editor to Hutchison the publishers. He was made an honorary fellow of the City and Guilds of London in 1983.

Professor John Fuller, former director, Scottish Hotel School; born May 31, 1916, died March 11, 2001.