Obituary: Professor David Lloyd

Professor David Lloyd, pictured in 1992, won worldwide accolades for his plant research but will always be remembered for accusations he was poisoned that year.

Scientist. Died aged 68.

David Lloyd, a Canterbury University plant scientist of world eminence, inexplicably collapsed and went into a lengthy coma in late 1992.

He managed to tell people just beforehand that he thought he had been poisoned.

That year he had become only the seventh New Zealand scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, one of the most prestigious and oldest scientific societies in the world.

The citation said that his exceptional knowledge of the flora of New Zealand had led him to conclusions that transformed the thinking of plant scientists around the world.

Tragically, Professor David Graham Lloyd's life ended this week after a 13-year helplessness imposed by paralysis and blindness. His present wife, Linda Newstrom-Lloyd, characterised this condition 10 years ago as "like living in a dark room".

His coma lasted two months, its cause a mystery. Police did, however, take an interest in who had access to a laboratory at the Christchurch School of Medicine and the substances it held.

In 1994 a fellow scientist and also Professor Lloyd's jilted de facto partner, Dr Vicky Calder, a molecular biologist, was charged with attempted murder. Or, alternatively, poisoning with intent.

The Crown alleged she had poisoned Professor Lloyd with acrylamide monomer (described as a neuro-toxic agent).

Dr Calder stood trial twice. After a hung jury her lawyer sought a discharge which was refused. The subsequent trial produced a not guilty verdict.

Dr Calder had met Professor Lloyd in 1986. Professor Lloyd's first marriage, to Jacqueline Mary Marriott, had ended in dissolution. He lived with Dr Calder until 1992 when he went to London to receive his Fellowship at the Royal Society.

On returning home he informed Dr Calder he had fallen for a Canadian-born botanist, Linda Newstrom, in California.

Stunned and upset, Dr Calder deluged the professor with angry letters. A witness in the first trial said Dr Calder told her that a short time after Professor Lloyd moved out she cut up his clothes and shoes, because he hated shopping.

But Dr Calder has always denied anything about poisoning. Opposing scientists at both trials argued over whether Professor Lloyd's symptoms fitted acrylamide poisoning. Or whether it was some post-viral nerve attacking disease, as contended by the defence.

Author John Goulter in his book No Verdict - New Zealand's Hung Jury Crisis noted that Dr Calder's defence lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr, said that although her client was vengeful and had done some stupid things, this did not make her a poisoner.

Interest in the case was so strong that even this week headlines such as "Poison Case Scientist Dies" were common.

But it remains an important fact that the scientific accomplishments of the boy born in Manaia in South Taranaki - and who attended New Plymouth Boys High School - remain of world class.

Professor Lloyd's achievements are mentioned in an upcoming book by Professor Spencer Barrett (University of Toronto) and Dr Lawrence Harder (University of Calgary).

The book declares that "the extensive body of concepts that Lloyd developed through keen observation, incisive intellect and realistic theory established him as the founder of the theory of plant reproduction and comprise his lasting legacy".

He pioneered the concept of plant gender and was the foremost authority on the evolution of plant sexual systems.

"Lloyd's scholarly work laid the foundation for much of today's research on the ecology and evolution of flowers, as well as several other fields of evolutionary biology," the authors say.

After his coma Professor Lloyd, paralysed from the shoulders down, gradually taught himself to speak with the aid of a device. Nearly three years after falling ill he was given a government grant which enabled him to continue his work even though he could no longer read or write. Colleagues read to him and recorded his replies for him to "sign" to verify that they were his.

Professor Lloyd's twin, Peter, remembers his brother's early great thirst for knowledge and his deep interest in the plant world.

David Lloyd went to Canterbury University in 1955, gaining his BSc with first class honours. At Harvard he was awarded a PhD in biology in 1964. He returned to Canterbury University to work, becoming professor of plant science in 1986. Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp said this week that Professor Lloyd was one of the finest researchers the university had seen.

Professor Lloyd is survived by Mrs Newstrom-Lloyd and three adult children from his first marriage - Steven, Nicola and Paul. Mrs Newstrom-Lloyd said this week he had lived the past 13 years with cheerfulness and resiliency, despite his difficulties.