Bill Dryden, a neuroscientist and true nenaissance man, has died aged 71. Bill grew up in Paisley, just west of Glasgow, Scotland and received a BSc in Pharmacy from the University of Glasgow and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Strathclyde. Following postdoctoral studies in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, Bill returned to Strathclyde as a lecturer. He was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Alberta in 1976 where he remained until his retirement in 2008. He was acting chair of the Department between 1991 and 1992. Bill was a founding member of the Division of (later Centre for) Neuroscience and served as its director between 1995 and 1999.

His insight, breadth of knowledge, collegiality and sense of humour will be fondly remembered. He was a true renaissance man and mentor for us all. Bill is survived by his wife Angela, three children, Colin, Gillian and Anna and one grandchild.

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