Patrick Joseph McDonald, RAF engineer and technician at the University of Science and Technology, has died at 69. He had been ill for some years.
Patrick was a bulky man with a ready chuckle and a hint of mischievousness, keen to have a drink and talk aviation. Unusually for an Irish Catholic, he had joined the RAF. Patrick worked as an engineer, maintaining Hercules aircraft and serving in Germany, Canada and the Falklands during the war.
His friend and colleague Professor John Barford said that after leaving the RAF Patrick joined the University of Bath.There he was a laboratory technician working with Professor Po Lok Yue. Professor Yue later moved to the UST where he founded the chemical engineering department. He brought Patrick with him to help set up the laboratory.
In 2006 Patrick married Zeny who was born in Albay, the Philippines. From an earlier relationship he had two sons and a daughter. Patrick retired from the university at 65.
“He was a good conversationalist, easy-going and liked a drink,” John said. “When you got him going he would sing Danny Boy.”
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