They say the real battle in life is being someone that people can count on.
And that isn’t defined in a single moment — you earn that epithet with a lifetime of showing up.
James (Jim) Simpson valued that characteristic in his life.
Whether it was in his family life or at his work, the University of Otago Emeritus Professor’s humanity, kindness, intellect and reliability always shone through for everyone around him.
Just by being himself, he was fun, humorous, hardworking, and dedicated to people and their causes.
Jim was born on July 9, 1942, in Kent, England.
He was the son of Katherine and James Simpson (senior), and brother of the late John Simpson.
Jim’s early years were amid the chaos of World War 2 and he had strong memories of bomb shelters and the sounds associated with air raids.
He attended St Mary’s Grammar School, in Sidcup, southeast London, where it became evident he was incredibly intelligent and a great word-smith.
He went on to attend the University of Southampton, where he graduated with a bachelor of science (with honours), and later a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1967.
In 1969, he came to Dunedin, to work at the University of Otago.
Jim entered the scientific workforce here during a golden age.
The space race was on, plastics and fluorine compounds were still wonder materials, and there were exciting things to be discovered and proven without requiring justification to the funding providers.
Jim fell naturally into the academic lifestyle, entering a long-standing and fruitful collaboration with the late Prof Brian Robinson, and committing wholeheartedly to the teaching, research and service aspects academia demanded.
Jim had a particular passion for X-ray crystallography — a branch of science that deals with discerning the arrangement and bonding of atoms in crystalline solids.
His interest coincided with the dawn of the computer age and he grasped the new opportunities it provided for the technique, writing a crystallography programme and including it in his teaching.
His expertise was recognised by the International Union of Crystallography, leading to an editorial position with one of their journals.
The same skills made him the ideal man for scientific fraud-busting, a task he clearly relished.
He wrote or co-authored more than 550 papers.
Jim ultimately worked for the university for more than 50 years, where he became the head of both the chemistry and botany departments, and filled many other service positions.
He was well known around campus for doing good old-fashioned 12-hour working days, which started at 5.30am and sometimes a little bit less on the weekends.
For his outstanding contributions to his fields of academia, Jim was made an emeritus professor by the university.
Although Jim was famous for his long hours at the university, he was never at a loss for things to do outside of it.
His love of dogs shone through for years in his involvement with the Otago Canine Training Club, starting with training his own dogs to a Test C Standard, and eventually becoming an obedience judge all over the South Island, as well as being part of the organising committee for the national dog obedience competitions.
However, his love of animals extended further than dogs, and as long as he was able, one of his favourite pastimes was to place various foods for birds.
When his daughter moved overseas, he would regularly start their early morning Skype conversations with stories of the antics of the black birds or how many tuis had been spotted the day before.
He was particularly keen on attracting native wildlife and spent a lot of time and effort to develop native plants in the extensive gardens surrounding the family home.
He loved sports in general, but had a taste for cultural pursuits also, enjoying the ballet and the theatre on a regular basis.
Jim travelled widely throughout his life, and never lost his love of the United Kingdom, but he adopted New Zealand wholeheartedly as his home.
He was a passionate supporter of New Zealand sports teams, never missing an opportunity to shout at the TV during an All Blacks game or annoy his daughters by taking over the television for five days straight to watch the Black Caps in a test match.
He never lost the love for his childhood football team, and would regularly lament the near relegation of Newcastle United from the English Premier League.
He also aimed to support New Zealand artists through his art purchases, both his personal purchases and those of the Art Co-op of which he was a founding member in 1996 and treasurer until 2021.
Family was very important to Jim, and he made significant efforts to keep good connections with his United Kingdom clan.
He travelled there as often as he could, maintaining connections from his childhood and university years.
When Jim met Jane in the days when blended families were less common than today, he embraced his new family and the parenting responsibilities it brought.
And they were in admiration of him.
Later in life, they appreciated the parenting lessons he taught them.
His eldest stepson said, "Jim was very warm-spirited — even towards total strangers.
"He was personable, he was approachable, he was a good listener, and he was genuinely interested in human interaction.
"He was the sort of person that if you put him in a room full of strangers, very quickly he would find somebody to talk to, he would find some sort of common ground with that person, and that would pretty quickly and naturally lead to either a chuckle or a full belly laugh shared between those people."
Jim was a man who had a depth and dexterity to him, personally and professionally.
He had a great balance of being a leader in his academic field and also being a leader in his community and at home.
Dunedin was home, but the holiday house at Taieri Mouth was his retreat. It was a place for the summer holidays, or if he needed time for uninterrupted work.
In true Jim fashion, he wanted to give back to a place that brought him peace and joy: he became an active member of the local Amenities Society and assisted with the production of a book of local history.
Jim died on November 23, 2024, aged 82 years. He is survived by Jane, Richard, Flora, Paul, Elisabeth, Simon, and seven grandchildren. — John Lewis and the Simpson family.
