Alan was born in East Barnet. His father was an accountant for boat builders on the Thames at Brentford. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and in 1945 was awarded a major scholarship to university. He immediately entered The London Hospital Dental School, where he became a prizeman, qualifying BDS and LDS in 1949. After completing a year as house surgeon he spent two years on national service as a commissioned officer in the Royal Army Dental Corps. It was while in North Africa that he met and married his first wife, Pat Maddock. Returning to England he settled in general dental practice in Twickenham. He soon joined the local yacht club and subsequently the Hayling Island Sailing Club. He was an active club member and a natural sailor who braved the waters in a Flying Fifteen in most conditions. He received the Royal Yachting Association’s International Certificate of Competence in 2000 and enjoyed passing on his knowledge of tides, winds and the nautical arts to many aspiring and grateful young sailors. While studying for the primary FDS, Alan was asked on a temporary basis to teach in the Department of Oral Surgery at The London Hospital Dental School. This led to a permanent part-time lectureship which he also combined with running his popular and successful general dental practice. He qualified FDS in 1968 and was clinical dental tutor at the West Middlesex Hospital and at The London. Alan was an excellent administrator – from 1974 there followed a series of posts as Dental Officer for Health Authorities in North and West London and North West Hertfordshire. He retired from general practice in 1993 and became Legal Affairs Manager for the West Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust. His second wife, Patsy (née Edmonds), sadly passed away in 1999. He joined the Hounslow and Twickenham Section of the BDA in the early 1950s where he was an active member and became President of the Middlesex and Hertfordshire Branch in 1977. Away from dentistry his interests included membership of Le Cercle Français de Richmond, receiving the Academic Diploma in French from the Open University in 1977. He was a member of the Whitton Model Club with interests in model aeroplanes, model boats and above all model railways, of which he had an encyclopaedic knowledge. He received the Class A International Licence in Amateur Radio in 1980 and a certificate from the British Model Flying Association in 2003. In 2002, Alan married Dorothy Goodsir, whom he met when he was Legal Affairs Manager and who had worked alongside him in his practice in the 1960s. She survives him, as do his children Beverly, Bryan and Andrew, his seven grandchildren and one great grandson.