John and I spent a lot of time at zeolite meetings, including the one which I drove us to Belgium when he spent time in organising his slides for his presentation. My friend , Professor Lovat Rees(FRSE) and I sat next to each other and listened! As John finished Lovat turned to me and said John was one of the best zeolite chemists around. I agreed. He also was a man who did not hesitate to enter a new area of chemistry and enhance it..He was a good friend and although we had not met in the recent past I will greatly miss his company - I owe him a debt for his introduction to the wines of New Zealand when I was acting as a PhD examiner- and many other convivial times at conferences