The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
St Andrews chemistry professor who was respected as an expert around the world
Professor Jim MacCallum, regarded as integral to the renaissance and growth of St Andrews University, has died at the age of 83.
Professor MaCallum was a former Master of the United College, a senior academic charged with carrying out duties required by the academic senate.
He died suddenly at Pitlair Nursing Home in Cupar last week.
Born in Argyll, he was educated at Dumfries Academy and Glasgow University, where he achieved a first class honours degree in Chemistry and then a PhD.
He went on to work with ICI in Harrogate and then Aberdeen University before taking up a post as a chemistry lecturer at St Andrews in 1964.
He was promoted from a readership to a chair in polymer chemistry in 1988 and in the same year succeeded Dr Kathleen MacIver as master, a post he held for four years.
A leading authority on polymers, Professor MacCallum acted as a consultant to a number of industrial companies and lectured widely in Europe and the USA.
He was a member of the editorial boards of European Polymer Journal and Polymer Degradation and Stability, and co-editor of the book series Polymer Electrolyte Reviews.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of
Chemistry, Professor MacCallum held office as Dean of Science and was also a former chairman of the Students’ Association Board at St Andrews.
More recently, he helped bring retired staff together for the university’s 600th anniversary celebrations in 2013.
Professor MacCallum was married to Eleanor and the couple had two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.
He was an elder of St Leonard’s Church in St Andrews, a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and a supporter of the Round Table.
His funeral will be private but the university plans a memorial service in St Andrews later this year.