Harold McNair (1933 - 2021)
Harold McNair, emeritus professor at Virginia Tech (USA) and eminent gas chromatographer, passed away on June 27th. Harold had strong ties with the Dutch analytical community, which started back in 1959. He came to Eindhoven as a Fulbright Scholar and fell in love twice – with gas chromatography and with Marijke, forever. Harold returned to The Netherlands for a few years working for F&M Scientific, which later became part of Varian. Harold’s third passion was teaching and he found his perfect place at Virginia Tech in 1966.
Harold was extremely smart, but most of all incredibly friendly at he spent his career helping, advising and encouraging younger scientists and students. He also kept amazing his numerous friends from The Netherlands with his mastery of the Dutch language. When Harold was impressed by a lecture from one of our MSc+ alumni in Riva del Garda Italy, a few years ago, I explained our Talents Programmes to him. He was extremely enthusiastic and asked whether he could contribute – as always. And as always, he was genuine. (PSch)
