Dental professor and author Ruth Freeman

Dundee professor Ruth Freeman, whose passion was to help make dental care accessible for Scotland’s marginalised people, has died aged 67.

Laid to rest in her wedding dress, typifying her enthusiastic and fun approach to life, Ruth was diagnosed with a rare cancer and passed away just weeks after her retirement.

An author, academic, dentist, lecturer and public health specialist, she was looking forward to a more relaxed pace of life with husband Gerry Humphris following a highly successful but demanding career.

“I feel very privileged to have had her as my wife,” said Gerry.

Ruth Freeman was born in Glasgow on August 10 1954.

Her parents were mental health social worker Joan Freeman and world renowned psychiatrist Dr Thomas Freeman – author of Chronic Schizophrenia.

She had two brothers – Richard, now deceased, and Robert, a consultant gynaecologist who lives in Plymouth with his wife Kath.

The Freeman family moved to Dundee where her dad practised as a consultant psychiatrist at Royal Dundee Liff Hospital.

Ruth received her primary education from the city’s Demonstration School before going on to Harris Academy.

With a granny in Belfast and opportunities in Northern Ireland for her parents, the family relocated when Ruth was still in her teens.

She began studying for a bachelor degree in dental surgery at Queen’s University Belfast and lived in Antrim, not far from her parents.

Ruth qualified in 1979 then went on to study for her Master of Science in dental public health from University College London.

She then did her PHD where she became interested in preventive dentistry, returning to Queen’s inspired by the work of Neil Swallow who specialised in preventive dentistry for children.

Later she would become the first female professor of dentistry at Queen’s.

Ruth was known as someone with an incredible enthusiasm for life.

Her career was both vast and impressive.

She worked at Queen’s University as a lecturer in dental public health where she developed a specific interest in behavioural science in dentistry.

Dental anxiety, children’s oral health and their experiences when visiting the dentist were deeply important to Ruth.

She was also keen to study how and if dentists worked to treat hard-toreach groups of patients.

Ruth was also a published author – the most notable book with Penguin being a collection of Anna Freud’s readings which she produced with Professor Richard Ekins.

Husband Gerry said his “love story” with Ruth was “a bit like When Harry Met Sally... it certainly wasn’t quick”.

The pair first met in a professional context in 1982. They would then bump into each other as the years progressed after the death of Gerry’s first wife.

Then, on June 21 2014 – on the longest day of the year – they got married at their home underneath a blazing sun, surrounded by friends and family.

Ruth was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2017.

They were told it was a rare type – only affecting one in 7,000 people.

When it became clear chemotherapy was not helping, the couple decided to move to quality of life care.

Ruth died at home with her family beside her.

At the celebration of her life, Gerry paid tribute to his wife.

He said: “My precious dearest friend, I love you.

“Goodbye, my dearest Ruth, in the hope that our paths will cross again.

“You will live forever, in my heart.”

IMPRESSIVE: Ruth Freeman was the first female professor of dentistry at Queen’s University Belfast, and right, Ruth in her younger years.