IN MEMORIAM: RAYMOND JOSEPH O'CONNOR, 1944–2005

Born on 20 January 1944, in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Raymond was educated at church schools in Ireland and remained a devout Catholic throughout his life; his religion gave him strength and comfort through his terminal illness. He first became interested in birds at the age of 12, when, as he watched a small bird methodically weaving fibers into a nest, he and the bird made eye contact, a connection he had never experienced before. Birding remained a hobby while he completed a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics at University College in Dublin in 1965. After working for three years on a Ph.D. in Physics at Birkbeck College in London, a pro gram to allow physical and biological scientists to interchange careers facilitated his transfor mation into an ornithologist; he moved to the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford as a Nuffield Foundation Biological Scholar. He studied growth and development of birds for his D.Phil, in Zoology (1971) under Christopher Perrins. His unusual combina tion of laboratory and field experiments led to the landmark Growth and Development of Birds (1984), which remained the key reference on the topic until quite recently. Oxford contem poraries recall his somewhat intimidating intel ligence, exemplified during coffee breaks when he would absentmindedly solve a Rubik's cube while carrying on a conversation to which he appeared to be paying his complete attention. He worked long hours, built necessary equip ment himself, and always retained a clear vision of where the work was taking him. Though clearly brilliant, he was approachable and a great conversationalist. He was a mentor to stu dents and colleagues, always willing to advise and critique with kindly precision?a facility he retained throughout his career. He held a lectureship in Animal Ecology and Behaviour at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1972 to 1975. His depar ture for a similar position at University College Bangor, North Wales (1975-1978), was precipi tated by the escalation of violence in Northern Ireland; in particular, the shooting of a col league coming out of church just because of his religious persuasion made a deep impres sion. In both positions, Raymond continued his research on avian growth and development but also moved, in collaboration with colleagues, into new areas?including, for example, com munity structure in intertidal systems. In 1987, Raymond became Director of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and brought his unique combination of quantitative, biological, and personal skills to reshape it into the world-leading organization it is today. He oversaw the computerization of clerical records of populations, nest records, and banding, all data gathered by amateurs and organized by professionals. His recognition that all aspects of the BTO's data collection could be integrated to answer critical population questions, and his powerful advocacy of the BTO's need for the requisite computer power, set the stage for national-scale analyses of bird population dynamics not previously possible and rarely contemplated. The seminal paper in Ardea (Pattern and process in Great Tit populations in Britain, 1980) showed how information gath ered by volunteers for BTO programs could be corroborated by, and in some cases extend, the understanding from numerous intensive pro fessional studies on the species. It also showed how the value of the data in each separate pro gram is greatly improved by comparison with

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