H.A.K. Rowland (F 34-40). His son, Bruce, kindly forwarded the following notice written by Hugo Ree:

“Many past students and staff members of London’s School of Hygiene and tropical Medicine, and Hospital for Tropical diseases, will be saddened to learn of the death of Dr. H.A.K. Rowland.

He was 85 years of age. Universally known by the acronym HAK, he was an inspired teacher, a very competent and compassionate clinician, and a clinical researcher who, early in his career, saw the need for the application of rigorous statistical principles to such work, with the result that his output was widely acknowledged and frequently cited. He provided a considerable amount of statistical expertise and advice to students preparing theses, and this was always much appreciated.

HAK was born in Wrexham in 1922. In 1927, the family moved to Cumbria. In 1934, he entered St. Bees School, leaving in 1940 as Head of School and Captain of Rugby. After qualifying in Medicine in 1945 from Queen’s College, Oxford, (where he was also a rugby blue, appearing for the University on over fifty occasions), HAK was called up for National Service in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Squadron Leader as a specialist in venereal diseases. On his discharge, he went into general practice in Workington, but
did not enjoy this time. In 1953, he went to South Africa, as medical officer to the Messina (Transvaal) Development Company. In 1955, he obtained the DTM&H from Liverpool, for which he was awarded the gold medal. After this, he went to Egypt; in 1956, he became caught up in the Suez Affair, spending eight weeks in a Cairo prison, something he never chose to talk about. In 1957, he obtained membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, becoming a Fellow in 1966. From 1957 to 1962, he worked in various overseas locations including Iran, Nigeria (where he was a senior registrar at Ibadan) and Sierra Leone. He was appointed a senior lecturer in Alan Woodruff’s Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine at the London School in 1962. During his time at the School, he was seconded to Dar-es-Salaam (1963-1964), to Burma (Myanmar) (1966-1967), and to the Department of Biometry at the Medical College of Virginia (1969-1970).

His interests were wide, but his particular love was the tropical anaemias. He ran, at HTD, a successful clinic for the management of haemoglobinopathies in immigrant populations. He was largely responsible for the organization of teaching for the old DTM&H, the Diploma in Clinical Tropical Medicine, and its successor, the Masters in CTM, He was immensely popular with the students, who appreciated many of his quirky and eccentric mannerisms (many will remember the woolen yellow tie that he wore day after day!). His lectures were well prepared, carefully thought out, and very popular. He published extensively, from original work, to chapters in text-books, and book reviews. He will perhaps be best remembered for the Wolfe Atlas of Infectious Diseases, first published in 1983, and co-authored by Ronald Emond and Philip Welsby. This work has gone through a number of editions, the last in, I think, 2003, and has been translated into most European languages, Japanese, and other Asian languages. He was immensely proud of the success of this book. He obtained a Doctorate from Oxford in 1955 for a study of urinary schistosmiasis, and in 1965 was awarded a PhD from the University of London for studies of hookworm anaemia in Tanganyika.

His only professional regret came in 1984, following the retirement of Alan Woodruff. HAK, by then a Reader in the University of London, hoped that he would be appointed to the Chair. His failure saddened him, but he continued to work diligently, until his retirement in 1986, for his new professor. Following his retirement he spent two years as Head of the Department of Education and Research at King Fahd Hospital, Riyadh. Despite his extraordinary success in the field of tropical medicine, HAK’s first love was farming. After returning from Riyadh in 1988, he undertook agricultural studies at Brooksby Agricultural College, and on completion of his course, (for which he was awarded a prize for Farm Management) he bought a hill farm in South Wales where he bred Aberdeen Angus cattle. A severe bout of pneumonia in 2003 left him unable to cope with a hill farm and he moved to Lathus, a small community between Poitiers and Limoges, in South West France, where he developed a prize herd of Limousin cattle. It was here that he died.

In 1946, he married Margaret J. Magee. There were three children from the marriage. HAK, who was an accomplished piano player, had few outside hobbies apart from his farms, but he was passionate about jazz. After exams were over, he frequently took groups of students to his favourite jazz clubs. Here he became animated, and his laughter loud. He will be greatly missed.”

The St. Beghian Society,
St. Bees School, St. Bees, Cumbria, CA27 0DS
Tel: 01946 828093
osb@st-bees-school.co.uk