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In August 1940 13 year-old Fred (Sonny) Richardson, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Richardson, of 44 Church St. Witham, was evacuated to Canada under the provision of the Children's Overseas Evacuation Scheme.

A former pupil of Braintree County High School, he continued his education until at 17 he joined the Canadian Navy. For a time he was at the Naval Research Laboratories at Toronto and then volunteered for service in the Pacific Theatre of War.

In 1954, he graduated from the University of Western Ontario, London. Canada with a Bachelor Arts Degree with first-class honours,  after which he was instructor in the Department of Chemistry at Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

He received the National Science Foundation Award for further study in chemistry at Miami University, Florida (3 times). This award is made to teachers of science, and he received these awards in 1961, 1962 and 1963.

He carried out a programme leading to a Masters of Arts Degree, and did his research under Dr. Bruce V. Weidner, in the Department of Chemistry, receiving his Masters Degree August 24th 1963 from the University of Miami.

He taught as a Master of Science at St Andrews Private College, Aurora, Ontario, Canada. He Married a Canadian girl - Miss Lois Fay Peterson of Windsor and has three daughters and a son.

Mr. President, members of the ALCA, and guests: I am honored to be afforded the pleasure of announcing the selection of the committee for the Alsop Award for 1975. As most of you know, the award was established by the Tannin Corporation of America in memory of William K. Alsop, who was one of the foremost leather chemists of his time, and for all time, and was a charter member of this organization. The long-standing tradition and tangible recognition have been carried on in more recent years by its successor, Tac Tannins and Chemicals, Inc. As has been the custom, the award consists of a fine gold watch, suitably inscribed, and furnished with a genuine leather band, hopefully, this year, of Canadian manufacture.

The committee, consisting of Dr. R. M. Lollar, Clifford Benrud, and myself, unanimously recommended Dr. Ross G. Donovan to the Council for the Alsop Award this year. Dr. Donovan began his career in the leather industry with the Collis Leather Co., Ltd., Aurora, Ontario, serving as a laboratory technician for several years. He attended the University of Toronto, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and chemistry in 1952, a Master of Arts degree in organic chemistry in 1954, and a Doctorate in biochemistry in 1965. He became chief chemist for Collis Leather in 1953 and continued in that post until 1960, when he obtained a leave of absence to pursue his education. He returned to the research - and development laboratory of Canada Packers, Ltd., where he has been, since 1963, in charge of leather research, and, since 1971, biochemical research.

Dr. Donovan has published rather extensively. In the leather telated field, he is the author of, or collaborator in, the following papers:

- Enzyme Degradation of Elastin

- Breakdown of Elastin Under the Action of Elastase

- Purification of Sheets of Bovine Collagen

- Practical Assays of Bating Enzymes

- Chemical Changes in Hides During Beamhouse Processes, .

- The Effect of Splitting and Shaving upon Some Physical Characteristics of of Side Upper Leather

- Identification of Important Process Variables in Production.

He is the owner of a patent on a process for enzymic unhairing of hides and has also published two papers on purely organic research and two papers on the interrelationships between science and theology.

In 1970, Dr. Donovan was elected president of the Tanners Production Club of Canada and was a prime mover in the organization of the Ottawa convention of our Association in 1973. He has served as chairman of the Toronto Section of the Chemical Institute of Canada and is in his first year of a three-year tenure as member of Council of the American Leather Chemists Association.

We have not only been frequently impressed with his professional capability at these meetings but also deeply respect him as an individual who, in our opinion, exhibits the same kind of personal integrity which must have characterized the individual in whose name the Alsop Award has come to be a cherished honor.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you very much for the honor associated with this award. I confess to being delighted at receiving it because of its implication that the work we have beendoing is considered worthwhile by our colleagues. At the same time I am aware of the impossibility of doing research without a suitable working environment, for which I am indebted to my employers, Canada Packers, and to our Director of Research, Dr. Rubin.

Looking back over my personal development, I have also come to appreciate the time taken by my parents to arouse my curiosity about the wonderful workings of nature, leading to a personal faith that all of nature operates within a ramework of law and order established by the wise Creator, and is therefore not only worthy of investigation but amenable to it. lHy thanks also are due to Stan Walker of Collis Leather, who first interested me in the chemistry and technology of leather, who has encouraged ,all of our subsequent efforts, and, I trust, wiII continue to do so. In addition I must acknowledge many colleagues who have collaborated in our various leather-related projects. More than any other individual, however, my wife Helen. has shared the decisions, the successes and the failures - which have formed the fabric of our life; she deserves much of the credit for whatever accomplishments are considered to merit this award.

I accept the Alsop Award, therefore, acknowledging that many others deserve recognition for their share in it.