Francis John Caldwell Roe

Dr Francis John Caldwell Roe, who has died aged 82, was for over 50 years active as an experimental pathologist and made major contributions to cancer research and toxicology. He had a wide range of research interests, which included the general toxicology and potential carcinogenicity of foods, food additives and contaminants, drugs, tobacco, pollutants, and industrial chemicals, as well as mechanisms of carcinogenesis, cancer epidemiology, cancer prevention, and the pathology of laboratory animals. This resulted in over 800 publications, including eight books and many leading articles in the BMJ and Lancet. His encyclopaedic knowledge, coupled with his ability to present his findings in an extremely clear and logical way, made his advice highly sought after. He served with distinction for many years on the UK Department of Health and Social Security's committees on carcinogenicity and on toxicity and on the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Food Safety. He was also a member of numerous other national and international expert committees, as well as of various scientific journal editorial boards, and was a highly valued consultant to a wide range of companies.

Francis Roe was born in London on 16 August 1924 and was educated at St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington, and then at Wadham College, Oxford, and the London Hospital Medical College. He obtained from Oxford his BA in 1945, BM BCh in 1948, MA in 1950, and DM in 1957. He took up a house appointment at The London Hospital in 1948, continuing his pathology experience at the Royal Army Medical College from 1949 to 1951 before returning for 10 years to The London Hospital to be lecturer, then senior lecturer in the Department of Cancer Research. During this period he had a year at the McArdle Memorial Laboratories in Madison as an exchange fellow. In 1961 he …