Dr Howell D. Williams (Materials 1958)

Provided by Mrs Janice Williams

Howell Williams was born in Swansea in July 1937 but subsequently the family moved to Nottingham. After education at Nottingham High School he graduated in Metallurgy at Imperial College before studying for a PhD in the Faculty of Natural Science at Cambridge University. He worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board and its successors from 1961 to 1992 apart from an interlude (1967-72) lecturing in the Post-Graduate School of Materials Technology at Aston University. His initial industrial work as a Research Officer led on to appointment as Head of Materials Technology and eventually to Head of Reliability Engineering. His career concluded with six years as Assistant Dean of Engineering at the University of Birmingham.

After formal retirement from Birmingham, Howell spent most of his time and energy pursuing his passion of private flying, where he had held a Private Pilot's Licence since 1975. His activities were not only actually in the air where he was a regular Flying Instructor, but also in many other aspects of flight training and the preparation of numerous manuals and documents for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association (AOPA) as well as being a member of various professional committees from 1986, culminating in the Executive Committee from 2003.

Howell married his childhood sweetheart, Janice, in 1960 and they had three children. He was devoted to his entire family including his four grandchildren. He was one of those people whose basically placid and quiet nature made him ideally suited to the business of flying where his careful and analytical approach was so important.

When suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumour in early 2008, he took a detailed interest in the treatment and the scientific principles involved. Howell died on 12 November 2008.