Tribute for Robert Blyth

So Robert Blyth, the one-time editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal, is no longer with us. I can’t imagine Robert “shuffling off this mortal coil”, because he was not that sort of man.

We worked together at The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, as it then was, in Bloomsbury and Lambeth, and in those days he might well have said, “I’m old enough, I’ve done enough and I’m off.”

He was direct, positive and a man of firm opinions, which he would share with the most junior member of staff and the most senior Member of Council without fear or favour. He would criticise firmly and directly if he thought you/they were wrong and and gently compliment with a wry smile if he thought you weren’t doing too badly.

The profession owes Robert a great debt of gratitude for his firm hand close to the tiller over some difficult times. He didn’t formulate the Society’s policy but he certainly influenced it. I didn’t work for him — I don’t think that would have suited either of us — but I did work with him and that was a privilege.

Well done thou good and faithful servant!