Ivor Gartside graduated in 1965 with a BSc in Physiology in Andrew Huxley’s Department at University College London. He subsequently began research into the production and mechanisms of prolonged changes in the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex which led to a PhD under the supervision of Olof Lippold. He published frequently in the field relating many of his findings on long-term changes in firing rates to aspects of learning, memory and epilepsy. Following a brief spell at The School of Pharmacy, University of London, in 1974 he took up a lectureship in the Department of Physiology at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (CXWMS). He remained there until he took early retirement in 1998 following a merger of the School with Imperial College London. At CXWMS his research interests widened and he collaborated with other members of the Department on a range of issues including the microvasculature, plethysmography and hormonal control of diabetes. Ivor was regarded with great affection, due in part to his readiness and unstinting efforts to help others in their research. That help was invariably as ingenious as it was skilful, particularly when electronics were involved. He spent his retirement enjoying classical music, dabbling with World War Two radios, tracing his ancestry and travelling widely despite the onset of oculo-pharyngeal muscular dystrophy. He is survived by his wife Dr Kate Tress, herself a psychology graduate from UCL, daughters Melissa and Nicola and two grandchildren.