Obituary – Dr David Price CEng FIMMM

David was a very active member of the Institute of Materials Steel Division and was Executive Editor of the Institute journal, Ironmaking and Steelmaking, for more than 10 years.

David James Price CEng FIMMM
- 28 July 2020

Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, David was a very active member of the Institute of Materials Steel Division and was Executive Editor of the Institute journal, Ironmaking and Steelmaking, for more than 10 years. David was also Editor of the international journal Millennium Steel for 20 years. He became a board member and then secretary of the Iron and Steel Society. He was awarded two medals in 2011 from the Institute including the 2011 T B Marsden Professional Award and Thomas Medal & Prize for his work in the steel industry.

David studied metallurgy at Brunel University, UK, where he was sponsored by the Appleby Frodingham Steel Company in Scunthorpe, later to become part of the British Steel Corporation (BSC). He began work as a Process Metallurgist and completed a PhD on the Chemistry and Kinetics of LD steelmaking while working at the plant. He became a Chartered Engineer in 1975 and a Fellow of IOM3. A few years later after a period as Shift Manager in a rolling mill he returned to steelmaking as
Technical Manager.

One of his proudest moments was winning a gold medal from the Royal Statistical Society for his work on developing and implementing statistical process control, initially at Scunthorpe, and then more widely in the company. In 1989, he moved to Teesside to run the process development laboratory, working on novel iron and steelmaking technologies. He later moved to Rotherham running product research for about half of British Steel. He served on the Lloyds Register of Shipping Technical Committee and on two EU expert committees on steelmaking and structural engineering. He installed and commissioned the UK’s largest 5-axis welding machine.

David was a very keen sportsman – from golf to windsurfing and long distance walking and cycling to ice skating. He was proud to have cycled from John O`Groats to Lands’ End in 2016 in just two weeks, averaging 67 miles per day.

David died on 28 July 2020 after a brief stay in hospital on the Isle of Arran. He had been seriously ill for some time and had been lovingly cared for by his wife Valerie. He leaves his beloved wife Valerie, children, grandchildren and a great grandchild as well as many colleagues and friends. He will be greatly missed.

Dr Michael Pettifor CEng FIMMM