EMI o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-04-12 published
KEYSTON,
Dr.
John
Edgar
Passed away peacefully in Ottawa on April 8th in his 96th year.
Predeceased by his wife
Irene née
CATLOW, he leaves a son, John
Robert KEYSTON and his wife
Jacqueline, living in Halifax, Nova
Scotia; two grand-daughters, Rebecca and Melanie; and a daughter
Judith KEYSTON, living in Lewes, England. Dr.
KEYSTON had a very
distinguished career in the field of Defence Research. He grew
up in the small Nottinghamshire village of Barnstone, England,
and was educated at the King Edward VII Grammar School in Melton
Mowbray, at Nottingham University (B.Sc. 1929), the Einstein
Tower laboratory in Potsdam, Germany (1930-1931) and Magdalen
College, Oxford (first class D.Phil. in Physics 1933). His first
post was Research Officer with
EMI, but in 1937 he transferred
to defence research in the preparations for possible war with
Germany. At the Admiralty he became Assistant Director of Scientific
Research Planning (1943-1945), and Deputy Director of Programmes
and Planning (1945-1946). From postwar London he moved to Southern
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as Research Director of the Central African
Council (1947-1949), and took time off from this post in 1949
to serve as Scientific Advisor to the Indian Navy in that newly
independent country. Dr
KEYSTON came to Canada in 1950 as the
first Chief Superintendant of the newly established Naval Research
Establishment (now Defence Research Establishment Atlantic) in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Both the job and the country proved to
be congenial to him, and he and his wife became Canadian citizens
in 1953. He was subsequently promoted (1957) to the position
of Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Defence Research Board, and
moved to Ottawa. Still eager for new challenges, in 1964 he accepted
a the North Atlantic Treaty Organization appointment as Director
of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe Technical Centre
in The Hague, Netherlands. From there he moved in 1967 to Brussels
as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Director of Armaments
and Defence Research, a post he held until his retirement back
to Ottawa in 1973. For his significant contributions to defence
research Dr
KEYSTON was honoured in Britain with an O.B.E. and
later a coronation medal, and with the Medal of Freedom with
Bronze Palm from the U.S.A. He tried his hand at many things,
including playwriting - and was winner of the Nova Scotia playwriting
competition for 3 years running. He had been a keen cricketer,
golfer and gardener, played the piano and enjoyed a variety of
music. He will be deeply missed by his family and by his Friends,
particularly Audrey
COWAN who was his very best friend during
the last years of his life. A private memorial service will be
held in Ottawa later in April. The family may be contacted through
jkeyston@eastlink.ca.
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