Professor David Johns

After his early career in industry at the Bristol Aeroplane Company and then as a Lecturer at Cranfield College of Aeronautics, David joined Loughborough in 1964 as its first Reader in Aeronautics. He became Professor of Aeronautics in 1968, was Head of the Department of Transport Technology from 1972 to 1982, Dean of the School of Engineering from 1975 to 1978 and Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1982 to 1983. He earned his Ph.D in 1967 and D.Sc in 1985, both awarded by Loughborough University.

He left Loughborough in 1983 to become the Foundation Director (Vice Chancellor) and first employee of City University (then City Polytechnic) of Hong Kong, leading the establishment of a brand new University, which had 9000 students by the time of his departure in 1989.

In 1989 he was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Bradford until his retirement in 1998, when he received the CBE honour for services to higher education. As a professional chartered engineer he held fellowships at four professional bodies including the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

He is survived by his wife Sheila, daughter Sue, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His son-in-law, Andrew Butler, is also a Loughborough alumnus (Business Administration and French 1977), having met Sue who worked at the University Library at the time. His granddaughter Holly Butler also became a Loughborough alumna (Information Management and Business 2009). He will be dearly missed by his family and many former Loughborough University colleagues and students.