Kenneth Brian Easterbrook

Born at Ilford, England, on June 4, 1935, he was the son of Charles Francis Easterbrook and Barbara Louisa (Watts) Easterbrook, who predeceased him. After early education at Bishop Road School and Queen Elizabeth, and receiving state and university scholarships, he attended Bristol University to obtain his science degree in Chemistry and Microbiology.

He then performed National Service in RAMC as a sergeant based at East Everleigh, Wiltshire from 1956-1958. He was accepted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, but was unable to secure research funding for his masters and doctoral studies, so he travelled to Canberra, Australia to research and study for his doctorate at the Australian National University.

Dr. Easterbrook was a research fellow with the Australian National University, the California Institute of Technology and the Ontario Cancer Institute before joining Dalhousie’s Department of Microbiology in 1967. His initial work was in virology, but the focus shifted to bacterial ultrastructure after an interesting protein structure was discovered in his research lab. He received a grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada with which he investigated “Bacterial spinae: Their production, structure and function.”

As well as being a gifted researcher, Dr. Easterbrook was an administrator who helped enlarge and strengthen the Department of Microbiology. As head of the department he was a leader in its becoming the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. He also taught at University of Western Australia and the University of Alberta.

Dr. Easterbrook had a life-long love of choral music and was delighted to sing bass in a number of church (St. Paul’s Anglican, St. George’s Anglican, Kings College Chapel) and community choirs Dalhousie Chorale and Walter Kemp Singers).

He is survived by the mother of his children, Norma Dorothy (Clissett) Easterbrook; his children, Keith Horton Easterbrook, Alan Leslie Easterbrook, and Julie-Anne Welsh, and six grandchildren, Thomas, Daniel, Laura, Jack, Michael and Madeleine; his step-sons, Jason Herod and Geoffrey Herod; step-daughters, Kristen Matthews and Corey (Matthews) Hardeman .

He was predeceased by his spouses, Pamela Herod and Roberta (Robi) Matthews. He will be sadly missed by a wide circle of professional and musical friends. Dr. Easterbrook’s remains have been cremated. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

Dr. Easterbrook has arranged for a generous gift from his estate to the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation (DMRF), for the Kenneth Brian Easterbrook Endowed Fund to provide annual research funding to Dalhousie Medical School’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Any donation in his memory to DMRF would be appropriate and appreciated.