1956-2012: 57 years of continuous service to microbiology in New Zealand

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Brion Jarvis BAgrSci, PhD Secretary/Treasurer NZMS 1977-82 Elected to Honorary Membership: 1995

Brion was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, UK and educated at Caterham School in Surrey. He served two years in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator before obtaining a Diploma in Dairying from Nottingham University and a National Diploma in Dairying. He emigrated to Australia in 1951 and worked for the Portland Cooperative Dairy Company and Glaxo Australia, before moving to Melbourne to work in the CSIRO Animal Health Division and undertaking part-time BSc studies at Melbourne University. He obtained a Victorian Department of Agriculture scholarship in 1958 and undertook a BAgrSc course at Massey University, NZ, graduated with a PhD from the University of New England, Armidale, NSW, then spent 2 years at the University of California (Davis), before returning to Massey in 1967 as Senior Lecturer in Microbiology. His research interests have covered rumen cellulolytic bacteria, the interactions between rumen bacteria and ciliate protozoa, then moving on to work with Rhizobium and Agrobacterium and their classification. Brion was a regular contributor to NSMZ scientific meetings and was the NZMS delegate to the Royal Society's Members' Body Committee where he lobbied for the establishment of a National Committee for Microbiology, for which he was eventually appointed Convenor from 1982 to 1985. He was made an Honorary Member of NZMS in 1995. Brion retired from Massey at the end of 1993, but still retains an active interest in Rhizobium.

 

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