It is with great sadness that the School of Environmental and Rural Science learnt of the recent death of our former colleague, Associate Professor Robin Jessop.

We wish to express our most sincere and heartfelt sympathy to Robin’s wife of 53 years, Heather, and their son and daughter, Tim and Clare, in the loss of their beloved husband and father. Although Robin had suffered from kidney disease in recent times, and encouraged all with whom he spoke to take practical steps to prevent its onset, he had been doing well and his passing was sudden and unexpected.

Originally from Leicester, England and having trained for his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Wales, Bangor and PhD in crop agronomy at the School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, University of Nottingham, Robin and Heather immigrated to Australia in 1970 for Robin to take up a research position with the Wheat Research Institute in Horsham, Victoria. He then moved into a District Agronomist position with the State Department of Agriculture and, after several years in an advisory role with farmers, Robin commenced at UNE in 1980 as a Lecturer in the Department of Agronomy and Soil Science. Later he was promoted to Senior Lecturer and appointed as Head of Department, a position which at the time carried responsibility for all aspects of teaching, research, staffing, finances and administration, areas in which Robin excelled throughout his career as a university academic.

As well as his teaching and research roles, Robin devoted a significant amount of his time and energy to the promotion of the University through leadership of the School Publicity Committee, organising field days, school student visits and other extension and media opportunities. For several years he oversaw the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) at UNE, as well as its successor initiative, GRASS (Growing Regional and Agricultural Students in Science). He understood the importance of engaging with the community and promoting the University to future students and, along with others, laid the foundation for the international reputation that UNE bears in the areas of agricultural and animal sciences.

Robin was promoted to Associate Professor in 1991. He had a wide variety of research interests, including legume agronomy, plant nutrition, allelopathy and weed competition, but his most passionate pursuit was in the breeding and development of triticale, work which he undertook in collaboration with several long-standing technical staff colleagues at the University’s Laureldale Research Station.  Triticale is a lesser known hybrid cereal species that combines the productivity of wheat and resilience of rye as a dual purpose grain and grazing crop. Several of Robin’s breeding lines and cultivars remain in commercial use. As with the development of triticale, Robin was instrumental in increasing awareness of other minor crops in Australia and was editor and author of a book elucidating the agronomy of new crops for farmers and agronomists.

Robin retired from the University in September 2010 but held the appointment of Adjunct Associate Professor until December 2019, during which time he continued in various promotion and research roles, including supervision of postgraduate research students, the last of whom was an international PhD student from Iraq who investigated the competitive ability of triticale cultivars against weeds.

Robin will be especially remembered by his former students for the practical and thorough grounding in crop agronomy he provided them, many of whom are now advising farmers themselves, thereby advancing Australian agriculture. To his colleagues, he was a genuine down-to-earth academic, a committed and humble man who fostered a supportive and encouraging work environment, who cared for the well-being of students and staff at all levels, and was a friend to many. We remember Robin with fondness and thankfulness for the contribution he made at UNE.

Professor Brian Sindel