Obituary – Professor Sam Berry - A Rocha InternationalA Rocha International

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Obituary – Professor Sam Berry

Many friends of A Rocha have been very sad to learn of the death of Professor RJ ‘Sam’ Berry, a founding member of A Rocha Council of Reference. He was one of the earliest leaders in a rapidly growing movement that began in the 1960s to call Christians to care for creation as a part of their normal discipleship. He was a frequent speaker at A Rocha conferences, bringing incisive scientific insights together with penetrating Christian commentary that avoided none of the difficult questions.

He was Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London, a past President of Christians in Science, the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society and the European Ecological Federation. He was a prolific author whose books included Real Scientists, Real Faith (Monarch 2009) which drew together the biographies of senior Christians working in a variety of scientific disciplines, God and the Biologist (Apollos 1996), and God’s Book of Works (T & T Clark International 2003). He co-authored Science, Life and Christian Belief (IVP 1998) and was editor of The Care of Creation (IVP 2000). Throughout his life he took much pleasure in arguing the case for a loving God at work in the universe, and in 1996 he won the Templeton UK award for his sustained advocacy of the Christian faith in the world of science, and in 2001 the Marsh Prize for Ecology. He was also the author of Orkney Nature (Academic Press 1999) and continued to undertake fieldwork in the Scottish islands.

His contribution to our work will be a lasting legacy and he will be greatly missed by all at A Rocha. Our thoughts and prayers are with Caroline, his family and his many friends.