Dr Robert Lyall Lucas MBE, a fellow of Keble College, and curator of the University Parks for many years, has died aged 81.

Born in Bedford on February 20, 1927, Dr Lucas died on January 5.

He attended Bedford School before becoming an undergraduate at New College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first-class honours degree.

He was a postgraduate at King’s College, Cambridge, where he met Pamela Widdowson, and they married in 1952.

He came to Oxford as a department demonstrator at the Department of Agriculture in 1952, and in 1955 became a lecturer in agriculture at New College.

From 1965 to 1975, he was a senior research fellow at Keble College and in 1975 also become a tutor at Keble College.

He taught plant sciences, was an expert on fungi by profession, and a keen botanist.

For many years, Dr Lucas was based in the Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences in Parks Road.

From 1981 to 1990, he was chairman of the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations and Oxford International Assessment Services Ltd.

He was also group controller of the UK Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO), which monitored the nuclear threat.

In 1969, he got an MBE for this work.

Dr Lucas was curator of the University Parks from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s, and Lucas Walk in the parks is named after him.

Dr Lucas was also a member of the University Air Squadron, and an active member of St Nicolas Church in Old Marston for more than 45 years.

He leaves a widow, a son, daughter and five grandchildren.