Family and colleagues have paid tribute to an inspirational University of Nottingham academic, who helped found the Computer Science department and teach hundreds of students over the years in his one and only place of work. Dr Leon Harrison sadly passed away on Thursday, July 28, at age 75 after years of serious health issues.
Leon was born in October 1946 in Rotherham, Yorkshire, and met his wife Valerie when he was 17 and folk singing. Valerie said: "He played the guitar and sang folk songs, and I was taking the money for the entrance fees so the artist could be paid, and he thought hmm I need to get to know her if she's got the money."
The pair got married shortly after spent many years happily married. Valerie said: "He was very caring, very studious, very approachable, he loves his students, he loved his work, his students loved him I've had so many compliments from them.
Read More: Parents heartbroken by baby's death just 7 hours after birth
"One student now in Thailand said I wouldn't be where I am today and achieved what I have without the guidance and support of Leon. That's the kind of person he was, he loved me to bits and I loved him to bits, he did everything he could for me, that didn't involve seeing as he lost his eyesight.
"He was registered blind in the end, and that's why he ended up having to retire earlier than he would have liked to. He was deputy head of computer science, which was a department in the university that he and four others managed to get going."
Valerie recently received a letter from a former student that Leon taught in 1972, stating that Leon "was very kind, approachable and of course knowledgeable. He was an inspiration and a brilliant academic."
Leon studied his undergraduate degree at The University of Liverpool, before "his one and only job at the University of Nottingham." Leon's niece, Kerry Robinson, described him as an "incredible man", she said: "He was the most grounded and level-headed, but also scientific person that I've ever known.
"He used to teach people of all levels, he was just incredible. He was a doctor, a senior lecturer and he was also a research scientist." Kerry said that his work meant that Leon was able to research all sorts of different things, which took him and some of his students around the world, and he later did a trip around the world with Valerie.
Kerry explained that her uncle had type 1 diabetes which "caused him to go blind when he was quite young, but in spite of that he always managed incredibly without a stick without a dog, and just insisted on going about his business." She said: "He used to magnify things at his home, he had a massive computer system of his own, and magnified things so he could continue reading one letter at a time.
"It didn't stop him in his role as teacher, tutor or anything. He was warned that he would not live beyond 50 because of his diabetes, so his wife managed to make sure he was looked after to the highest level.
"We've always put it as a family down to her caring and welfare and his determination. He was like a second dad to us, to me and my sister."
A former colleague of Leon's at the university, David Brailsford, has also shared a tribute to Leon. He said: "In the early 1980s, at the University of Nottingham, Dr Leon Harrison was a key member of a small team called the Computer Science Group that was gathered from the existing academic departments of Mathematics, Psychology and Electrical Engineering to form the nucleus of a new department. The new department was formed in 1986 and shortly after its foundation Leon Harrison agreed to transfer from Electrical Engineering into the new department, which became the School of Computer Science in the 1990s.
"His specialist knowledge of computer hardware and microprocessors was invaluable and his hard work in teaching new courses and expanding the undergraduate intake was vital in establishing a Computer Science presence at the University." Leon was made Deputy Head of the School of Computer science, and was in charge of the day to day running of the school.
David added: "The School was still small and in need of close attention and much hard work which resulted in Leon having to work phenomenally hard to keep the show on the road in times of increased undergraduate demand and an ever expanding number of PhD students and taught postgraduate courses. All those who worked with Leon came to value his hard work and his no-nonsense approach to planning new courses and expanding School activities.
"Throughout all of this hard work his health was never good and it was little surprise when he took early retirement just over 20 years ago. Fortunately for him in his final retirement years he was ably looked after by his devoted wife Valerie.
"He was a much treasured founding member of the School of Computer Science and will be forever remembered by all who knew him."
Read Next:
