Martin Mortimer obituary
Written by Hugh Mortimer
My father, Martin Mortimer, who has died after a short illness aged 71, was an agricultural ecologist with expertise in weed management. His research focused on the mechanisms that maintain genetic diversity in perennial grass pastures, the evolution of herbicide resistance in cereal weeds and successful methods for the establishment of direct-seeded rice in Asia. He was determined to enhance sustainable livelihoods in agriculture together with alleviating poverty.
Born in Maidstone, Kent, Martin was the son of Dorothy (nee Coveney) and Jack Mortimer. The couple had waited until Jack returned from his wartime service in North Africa to his job in insurance before marrying in 1945. Martin was brought up by his mother on his grandparents’ farm, Spout House, in the Kent countryside near Leeds, after his father died of cancer while Dorothy was pregnant with him.
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