Bryan Clarke, who has died aged 81, was the founding professor of genetics at the University of Nottingham, where he set up the Frozen Ark, a scheme to preserve the genes and cells of endangered creatures. This was planned to act as a databank of material as yet unstudied by science. His ultimate aim, that in time its contents could be used to regenerate the animals themselves, once seemed quixotic, but in these days of stem cells may yet succeed.
Before his time at Nottingham (1971-97) he taught at Edinburgh University (1959-71). That was where I first met him, more than 50 years ago: Bryan was my tutor and I was one of four first-year students, all of whom became professional biologists, whom he invited to his flat in the New Town for a tutorial each week so that we could present essays. One of mine was on the evolution and genetics of a snail called Cepaea.