Adrian E. Leek, Phd., of East Weymouth, a prominent research immuno chemist, died on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston surrounded by his family after a courageous two year battle with lung cancer.
Dr. Leek was the beloved husband of Nina (Mude) Leek and dearest father of Richard, Oliver and Elizabeth Leek, loving brother of Nigel Leek and Miranda Souter, and loving and much loved father-in-law of Barbara Leek and very proud grandfather of Henry and Timothy. He was also the much loved son-in-law of Moira Mude.
Adrian was an exceptional husband, father and man. Everyone who met him from colleagues to friends to the staff who took care of him at Dana Farber and Brigham and Women's hospital were touched by his kind heart and happy spirit. We are all better people for having known him. Adrian was loved by many friends and colleagues, and by so many friends of his children. He was a wonderful father, whose devotion to his children was mirrored in the remarkable tenderness of the care and love they gave him.
He had a penchant for books and movies outside the mainstream, annually publishing a "Daddy's weird book and movie list", and those titles made up most of his gifts during the year, piled up beside his bed, a treat waiting for him to indulge. He adored France, and he and Nina enjoyed two wonderful trips over the last two years. He also loved classical music, prone to play it very loudly. He was a very involved host dad to three AFS daughters, who spent a year with the family, and was devoted to Mona Abraham, our "Harvard daughter", who with her family in Bombay and New York, has become an integral part of our lives.
Many know relatively little about the details of Adrian’s contributions to the world of science and medicine. Given the most modest of men such is not surprising, yet at least some of this contribution should not pass unrecognised.
Adrian graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford, and was later awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) for his research. He was responsible, under the guidance of Professor Tim Chard at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, with work on the identification and assay of a chemical called AFP, alpha-feto-protein, a chemical produced in high quantities by a fetus with open spina bifida, the most serious type of spina bifida and associated with significant suffering to those babies affected (assuming they survive) and great distress to their families. The chemical can be found in amniotic fluid and in maternal blood. As a direct result of Adrian's work, published in the Lancet, pregnant women could identify if their fetus was affected by this terrible condition and plan accordingly. Many more could be reassured that the tragedy which occurred during an earlier pregnancy had not been repeated. The test continues to be offered to virtually every pregnant woman around the world. So many have benefitted from the work he quite simply gave to the medical world. It never occurred to him that something so important would be developed for profit.
Adrian worked extensively in the area of immuno- chemical testing in the field of fertility, developing improved methods of medical tests, and latterly in the development of a new, rapid doctor's office test for the detection of prostate cancer. He had hoped to end his career developing tests which would be stable enough for use in the developing world. There are few who could leave such a legacy of great, quiet achievement and great love.
A Memorial Service will be conducted on Tuesday, March 8th at 2 PM at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, 172 Main St., Hingham, MA 02043
The family will receive friends and colleagues at the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Monday from 4-7 PM.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Doctors Without Borders, USA, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, MD 21741 or to the Rev. Diane Edson Fund, c/o the Church of St. John the Evangelist.