Obituary to John Ashby (19 April 1943–03 October 2022)

It is with great sadness to have to announce that John passed away peacefully at home on Monday 3 October 2022, surrounded by his loving family. Many will know John for his expertise and pioneering work in genetic toxicology. A chemist by training, it was only natural that the first steps into the use of structural alerts to predict carcinogenicity were developed by John and Ray Tennant in 1988 with the construction of the poly-carcinogen mega-structure. These skills led him to co-organize, with Fred de Serres, the famous ‘42-compound’ or ‘paired compound’ trial in which pairs of structurally similar carcinogens and non-carcinogens (e.g. benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(e)pyrene) were tested in a multitude of different in vitro and in vivo tests in laboratories around the world. Of the multitude of test systems, only a small number turned out to reliably discriminate between carcinogens and non-carcinogens, and these were then developed into Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guidelines. John was also a key contributor to other international collaborative studies on genotoxicity testing methods for complex mixtures, and on using the transgenic rodent assays to detect germ cell mutagens, which have led to seminal contributions for genotoxicity testing. With well over 200 publications in this field, including papers on several in vivo assays (e.g. the bone marrow micronucleus assay, the unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) assay, the comet assay, and the Big Blue and MutaMouse assays), John was at the forefront of genotoxicity data generation and assay validation and collaborated with many scientists around the world. John’s contributions to genetic toxicology were acknowledged in many ways, including being nominated as a United Kingdom Environmental Mutagen Society (UKEMS) fellow. He was also a great mentor and teacher to students, giving many lectures and courses at Jim Parry’s department in the University of Swansea. John took a keen interest in the research projects and plans of others and was always willing to offer his expertise and advice. It was sometimes the case that following such a discussion you might leave with a revised research plan written by him on a napkin or back of an envelope. Others will know him from his branching out into the, then emerging, discipline of endocrine disruption (ED). Here again, he was a driving force in validating many of the assays now regularly used to assess the ED potential of chemicals. As always, he pushed the boundaries of our knowledge and challenged assumptions through extensive data generation, as reflected in over 80 ED publications. However, his work in this area was severely criticized (some would say unjustifiably) and John became very disillusioned with science, opting to leave the field, which was a great loss. Some may even know him from his love of antiques, art, Joan of Arc, and his eclectic choice in music ranging from Bach and Mozart to Willie Nelson, with a little bit of Deacon Blue or Jimmy Buffet thrown in for good measure. His love of music extended to playing the piano and organ, and encouraging his family to also play musical instruments, including the saxophone. John’s love of organ music meant he knew the Organ Master at York Minster, and for the 1990 European Environmental Mutagen Society (EEMS) meeting, held in York, UK, he organized an organ recital as a social event. This set something of a precedent as many subsequent EEMS meetings also decided to include a music recital as a social event. John will also be remembered for his wry sense of humour, an example of which occurred at a reception in the Lieutenant Governor’s residence in Victoria, Australia during the 1993 International Conference on Environmental Mutagens (ICEM) where he played ‘Rule Britannia’ on the piano in the throne room (much to the delight of those present). He also loved to play practical jokes, and tell improbable stories to confuse his friends. Finally, we will surely remember John mostly for his honesty, kindness, humility, innate curiosity, infectious enthusiasm, mentorship, and his joie de vie. John leaves behind his wife, Olga, children, and grandchildren; as well as a huge void in the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing him.

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