Peter Osborne
Peter Osborne died recently at the age of 88. He was Secretary of the Institute of Occupational Medicine from its foundation until retiring in the mid 1980s, and played a vital role in moving it from dependence on British Coal funding to eventual independence, being responsible (with one assistant) for the financial management of its budget. He was born in Glasgow and attended Hutchesons' Grammar School before starting an apprenticeship with a private coal company. At the outset of war, he joined the army aged 17 and fought in the infantry in the early stages of the campaign in the Western Desert before being seriously wounded and captured by the Germans. As a prisoner of war he was sent to work in the German mines until liberation. After the war, he rejoined his company and at Nationalisation came to work in Edinburgh for the Scottish Area of the National Coal Board. He rose to the senior post of Area Secretary before being seconded, in 1969, to the new Institute and a job that entailed keeping financial control of an enlarging group of scientists. Peter was also a well respected and sensitive water colourist whose work was exhibited by the Scottish Royal Academy.