Obituary: Professor Frank Curtis of city research institute

As well as becoming instrumental in securing Norwich’s new hospital location, Professor Frank Curtis would also go on to help the development of what is known as the Quadram Institute today. 

He also became part of the foundation of the establishment of biomedical research in Norfolk. 

In 1970, he joined Norwich’s Food Research Institute from the University College of Swansea, where he was a reader in organic chemistry. 

John MacGregor and Prof. Frank Curtis discussing oil seed rape analysis with Dr Roger Fenwick (Image: Submitted)

Then, in 1977, he took up the position of head of the chemistry division, becoming its second-ever director. 

Here his expertise supported their work understanding the links between the chemical composition of foods and its safety, nutritive value and taste and texture.

He also sought to increase interaction with the food industry.

His own research in the institute covered subjects including mycotoxins in broiler house litter and the production of stress metabolites in carrots stored in ethylene.

This was a role he carried out until 1985, when he was promoted again at what is now known as the Quadram Institute. 

Within weeks of taking over the reins in his new post, he hosted a visiting group from the Agricultural Research Council – the first in eight years – which recommended a major strategic change for the institute, moving away from crop production research towards understanding food processing.  

Despite a major restructuring, Prof Curtis was commended for bringing the staff along with him during this period of change.

In 1978, he accepted an honorary professorship from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and, by 1980, the institute had grown to more than 200 staff. 

Professor Frank Curtis met the late Queen Elizabeth II (Image: Supplied)

In February 1985, he was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace. 

By the end of that year, he was appointed as director of food research of the Agricultural and Food Research Council.

In this role he had overall responsibility for the three laboratories of the Food Research Institute, in Norwich, Bristol and Reading. 

Although now based in Reading, he worked hard to maintain close contact with Norwich, as well as Bristol, and launched initiatives to link staff across the sites.  

His task was to combine these independent and competing institutions into one unified operation, now known as the Institute of Food Research, and he became the main contact in food matters with the government.

He also became a leading advocate for siting a new university hospital close to the institute and the UEA in Colney, an addition that has arguably transformed Norwich into one of the major scientific complexes in the UK. 

Prof Curtis was also the first chair of the Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Trust, now the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. 

The Frank Curtis Library, that he opened in 2001, still bears his name and provides services to staff and students of the trust. 

Prof Curtis retired from the Institute of Food Research in September 1988. 

Soon after, another major rethink from the government saw a move away from near-market food research. Further reorganisation of its research saw consolidation into Norwich. 

Prof Curtis’ legacy is his research into food in the UK and it will continue to live on through the organisations and people he worked with, nowhere more so than in Norwich. 

He died at his nursing home near Reading on March 11, 2023. 

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