Dr Malcolm Gerloch, 1939-2023

Malcolm was a Fellow of Trinity Hall in Chemistry from 1970-99, and served for a long time as Tutor for Graduate students during that period.

He was an Emeritus Fellow from 1999. On retirement he and his wife Gwyneth moved to Australia. He died on Sunday, September 24 after a long battle with cancer. The College flag is flying at half-mast today.

Professor Peter Holland, who is now a Trinity Hall Honorary Fellow and was a Fellow during Malcolm’s time at the College, said: “All who knew Malcolm Gerloch in his many years at Trinity Hall will remember that ever-present twinkle in his eye, the sense of fun, the delight with which he viewed the world, something that we all felt when chatting with him at lunch or High Table in College.

“Beyond that, many will recall his unstinting acts of kindness, his compassionate concern for others, the depths of his friendship and his profound intellectual curiosity about people.

“That last quality is apparent in some of his autobiographical writing, for, in retirement and in his eighties, he became a prolific author. In Second-best Luck (2022), he recounted his experiences of battling cancer within the Australian health-care system. In Such a Silly Mistake (2023) he wrote of his trying to make sense of Germany in the aftermath of World War II. In the over-used phrase, Malcolm was truly a ‘people person’, someone who gave to others because he liked people, even as he found their foibles both puzzling and amusing.”

Emeritus Fellow, Professor Michael J Kelly, added that Malcolm worked in the area of quantum chemistry at a time when computing power was very limited. He made several significant contributions to this area of study. Malcolm developed theoretical models to understand the electronic and magnetic properties of transition metal compounds which he reported in international journals and key textbooks. During his career he supervised and guided many graduate students who went on to successful careers in academia and industry.