at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Placenta 33 (2012) 532

Contents lists available

Placenta

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/placenta

Harold Fox 1931–2012

Harold Fox, MD (Gold Medal) FRC Path FRCOG, died suddenly athome on 21st March 2012, aged 80 years. His contribution to ourunderstanding of the placenta cannot be overestimated.

He and Page Faulk discussed the formation of a placental journalover several years and numerous “long bibulous lunches inLondon” [1], the result of which was the first issue of this Journalin January 1980. Although co-edited with Page in the early years,Harold did the vast bulk of the work involved in establishing andrunning the Journal. Ultimately, its existence and role parallelled,and to a considerable extent contributed to, the flowering ofplacental studies over the last three decades and more. He hasthus left a legacy over the whole field of placental studies quitebeyond his numerous papers on ovarian disease as well as onplacenta, his textbooks on gynaecological pathology and his classic,

0143-4004/$ – see front matterdoi:10.1016/j.placenta.2012.04.009

and award winning, 1978 monograph The Pathology of the Placenta,which went through three editions and heavily influenced currentunderstanding of the role of the placenta in many conditions. As aneditor, he was hard-working, thorough, and obsessional to geta manuscript just right. He was also deeply supportive of authorswhose first language was not English, often almost entirely re-writing the submission to make its meaning clear.

Harold, though widely travelled, (once stating he had not yetvisited Ethiopia, Antarctica, or Ecuador!), was a resident ofManchester – aMancunian – from his student years until his death;remaining a passionate supporter of its most famous football club.For colleagues there, and around the world, he was an individual towhom the overused word ‘unique’ should be applied. Althoughslight of stature, he was a giant in personality as well as intellect.His lectures and presentations were crowded, whether withstudents or colleagues, being incisively analytical and spiced withcutting humour. It took a brave soul to challenge his argument;debate was always lively.

A liking for strongly coloured shirts and bright ties and, in earlierlife, a penchant for Lotus sports cars were hallmarks. It took a fairbit of agility to be his passenger, and also some selective deafnessshould another driver be unfortunate enough to cross his path!When interviewed by his close collaborator Mike Wells in 2004[1], Harold indicated that his remaining ambitions were “to seeManchester United win the European Champions League againand to understand more fully my computer ... I don’t want to feelguilty about not learning a foreign language, I do not want totake classes in art or art appreciation. I do not want to drink lesswine, I do not want to eat more fruit and vegetables, I do notwant to take more exercise and I do not want to fly economy class”.

A giant in personality and in science, he is one to whom currentstudents of the placenta owe a substantial debt of which they maynot be well aware. He is survived by his devoted wife Augusta.

Reference

[1] Wells Michael. Int J Gynecol Pathol 2004;23:308–15.

Robert Boyd, Carolyn Jones