We were saddened to hear about the loss of Dr Roger Barrett and honoured that Roger decided to leave such a generous legacy of £5,000 to the Prostate Project. Roger was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, and underwent successful treatment at the
Royal Surrey County Hospital. In 2020 a secondary tumour was discovered on his spine and he lost mobility, but remained very positive and grateful for the good health he had enjoyed up to that point.

Roger’s children have kindly shared his obituary below; what an amazing life Roger led, blessed with a scientific mind and such musicality.  Our thoughts are with Roger’s family and friends.

Roger was born in Cape Town and grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), at a boys’ boarding school in Plumtree. His father was a housemaster and teacher of science and mathematics, and his mother, a viola player,  taught music. A highlight of the school year was the annual Gilbert & Sullivan performance, and Roger and his brothers and sister grew up familiar with many of the tunes and words before (in the case of the boys) joining the school and being called upon to sing in the productions, first with unbroken and then with deeper voices.

Roger excelled academically at school and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Cape Town, choosing that subject due to the availability of bursaries in a colony that needed engineers. However, he stayed on for an M.Sc. in physics and then won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, becoming the second of three brothers to arrive at Worcester College, Oxford, and playing hockey and squash for the college. He was an early user of computers in researching nuclear forces and structure. In 1961 he married Barbara, another graduate student in theoretical physics.

In 1963 they moved to New York as post-docs, Roger working with C.S. Wu. After a stint in Berkeley, and wanting to raise a family in the UK, Roger took up a lectureship at Battersea College of Technology, which soon became the new University of Surrey. He was based there for the rest of his career. In addition to his lecturing (notably teaching quantum mechanics to Jim Al-Khalili), Roger’s wide-ranging research included calculating the effect of a nuclear charge distribution on the energy levels of the surrounding particles, using parameters now known as “Barrett radii”.

With Barbara, Roger became a parent to Karen, Marlene and Adrian. During a later relationship with Jennifer, another physicist, David and Rachel were born. Subsequently, he also delighted in his six grandchildren.

Roger had been an accomplished pianist since his youth, but, in his early fifties he successfully auditioned for the Guildford Philharmonic Choir (later renamed Vivace Chorus), with whom he sang second (deep) bass for 25 years, including going on tour to Italy and Guildford’s twin town of Freiburg in Germany. He also sang solos for The Melodists (a small ensemble run by his singing teacher). When he took partial and then full retirement, he filled more of  his time with choral activities, singing in Guildford Opera Company, Opera South, and Park Opera, among others. His last major production was a Gilbert & Sullivan favourite, The Pirates of Penzance, which he was invited to sing with Farnham Amateur Operatic Society in 2015.

In 2011 he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. At that time, he greatly appreciated being part of another local choir, Topic of Cancer Voices. He was successfully treated for a while, and was able to resume many previous activities, but in 2020 a secondary tumour damaged his spine and he was unable to walk. His response to the news was to be grateful for “nine brilliant extra years”. Supported by his partner, Catherine, he was able to continue living at home. He had a dedicated team of professional carers, whom he entertained by singing to them. Despite declining health, he retained his sense of humour.

Written by his eldest daughter, Karen, on behalf of the family