Bernie Monaghan - June 2nd 1952 - April 6th 2013

It is with great sadness we regretfully inform you that our colleague and great friend Bernie Monaghan passed away on April 6th after a long illness. Bernie was a well known figure to the chromatography and spectroscopy community worldwide and hugely respected throughout the scientific industry for his considerable knowledge, coupled with a willingness and great ability to pass this on - he would always find time for anybody with a question or problem. He contributed hugely to ILM, Lab Asia and Chromatography Today, providing up to date reports from industry meetings and the odd in-depth article which created great interest and responses from our readers. What he couldn’t provide in person, he managed to cajole and persuade from his many friends and colleagues in The Chromatographic Society and British Mass Spectroscopy Society as well as from many other groups and branches of science - probably with a bit of arm twisting in a local pub – but usually with great good humour thrown in . Bernie indeed will be remembered for his great sense of entering into the spirit of things both academically and socially and will be a very sad loss to us all.


Bernie’s Funeral Service will be held on Wednesday April 17th at St Helens Crematorium, Rainford Road, St Helens WA10 6DF and afterwards at Briars Hall Hotel, Lathom , Nr Ormskirk L40 5 TH for a reception. Could anybody wishing to go to the reception please contact Andy Wells at andydwells@sky.com Further details from Kevin Doolan, kevin.doolan@thermofisher.com
Donations to Aintree Hospital, re Bernie Monaghan c/o Hunters Funeral Directors, 128B Burscough Street, Ormskirk, L39 2EY.

Tributes:

Bernie has been a good friend and mentor over the many years I have known him, however, I got to know Bernie really well when he joined International Labmate as our Editor and instigator of Chromatography Today.
In business at International Labmate he drove and developed Chromatography Today and increased the quality of the articles in the International Labmate titles.
Socially Bernie was always great company to be with he knew where all the Irish bars in all the cities we travelled to were and he often kept some/all of the younger members of our team on their toes!

It seemed like Bernie knew everyone and everyone who knew Bernie always had a great word to say or a great story to tell about him.

I valued his advice, his help and his friendship.

- Marcus Pattison – 
MD International Labmate Ltd

Bernie was synonymous with the Hypersil business from its early days initially as part of Shandon, then becoming Hypersil Ltd and latterly becoming part of the Thermo Electron Corporation (now Thermo Fisher Scientific). He became known across the whole industry, forging relationships and business partnerships with companies all over the world, his friendly and sociable nature being a natural asset to help him do this. It’s testament to his diplomatic and ambassadorial skills that messages of condolences have been received from all quarters of the Chromatography world, including the senior executives of many companies Bernie would have competed directly with in his professional career.

Extending on his social qualities, Bernie was at his most prominent during the major industry events such as Pittcon & Analytica, never missing from the fray of the discussions and meetings in the exhibition hall, and thriving in the after-hours discussions around the restaurants, hotels and bars. If there had been a Pittcon award for “last man standing”, Bernie would have won it every year. His guiding rule for himself and his team was “you can always sleep on the plane home”

- Kevin Doolan

I too have known Bernie for many years and have very fond memories of his humour and generosity both of knowledge and socialising. In recent times I have worked with him on articles for the ILM and CT publications as well as reports on symposia and meetings for the Chromatographic Society. He was accurate, dependable and reliable, all of which made him a very easy man with whom to work I shall miss him greatly and hope that his passing goes with due note of his contribution to science, technology and humanity.

- Dr. Chris Bevan.

I was really saddened to hear about Bernie Monaghan. Bernie was a great help to me in the early days. When I started out at Bristol, there was no-one much who had any practical experience of HPLC, and electronic communications were still in their infancy. I had done a lot of GC in my PhD project with Graham Nickless at Bristol University, but HPLC was something else that was a mystery to most people. But Bernie was around the area from time to time, and was always full of sensible advice and helpful suggestions. He was always such a positive guy too-very upbeat and enthusiastic. He will be really missed in the separation science community.

- David McCalley PhD
Professor in Bioanalytical Science, University of the West of England

On a personal front I have known Bernie for many years and being based in the NW had much to do with him from his early days with Shandon and latterly with Thermo . He was fount of all knowledge when it came to HPLC columns and always had a good story to tell .
In his later years he was instrumental in setting up the link between Chromatography Today and The Chromatographic Society and without his drive and tenacity I don’t think the journal would have achieved its now current success.
The chromatography community will miss him greatly.

- Alan Handley
President of the Chromatographic Society

Many fond memories of Bernie and time spent with Bernie - dating way back and more recently in Baltimore, Valencia and Torun.
He must have had unique inter-personal skills. From working with him on Chromatography Today, I discovered that he was the only person I know that could criticise me without me ever taking offence!

- John Lough

The Brits (and Bernie) and Beer in Bavaria!! We both recall this one particular Analytica at a particular party that was miles away by bus -so beers were available on the journey to keep folk distracted - we eventually arrived in a fab castle in the Bavarian countryside. We were greeted by a marvellous local oompah band! However as the evening wore on and the brits got “lively”, the band were persuaded somehow to switch to English pub songs. There was a lot of singing (and drinking) and for some reason when glasses were slammed down on the table, quite a few got smashed! Much to the consternation of the then German but UK based Party organiser!!! The then Shandon gang were very much part of this and Bernie I do recall was in the thick of it! Needless to say some folk were “quiet” the next day ... a memorable evening! He will be much missed and I am sure many folk can recall a Bernie fun evening!

- Chris Kiddy, Ian Slade

A True Gent - we will all miss him.

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