Dr George Dodd

Posted by Adrian Hollister on

It is with great sadness we have to tell you that Dr George Dodd passed away on the 14th December.

  

Back in 2006 George Dodd and his partner Liz Mountford, opened the Perfume Studio in its current form. Those of you who met George whilst smelling the fragrances, or having a drink in the café will probably remember him for his love of people and for his stories. George always had a story; about his new scientific creations, his plans to climb high mountains, his latest exploits in a fast car, plans for a runway in Mellon Charles, or to run an international music festival from the Perfume Studio! 

As well as being a master story-teller, George was a world-leading scientist in the field of aroma and the senses of smell and taste. After his studies at Trinity College, Dublin and his doctorate from Oxford, he worked for a short spell at Unilever before taking up a lectureship post at Warwick University (where I first met him in the 70’s). From then on his career could be described as being ‘on a roll’ and over the next 40 years he set up various research groups, and numerous companies related to aroma projects he was working on. Some of his later creations were wine, whisky and then gin smelling kits, the latter working with a major international drinks company. George’s scientific inquisitive and creative mind never left him, even to needing to understand the cancer that eventually took this remarkable man from us all. 

Although in recent years George spent a lot of time in his laboratory in Inverness, George would return on weekends with a car full of plants, which, regardless of the weather, he would plant out all over the area (not only on his croft). Many of the small trees and plants that you can see at the end of Mellon Charles, including plenty of Monkey Puzzles, were planted by George over the last few years.

George was a well-known and well-loved member of the community, nicely summed up in the view of a local person on receiving news of George’s passing - “the world is a less colourful place today”. 

His legacy continues in the Perfume Studio. It is eleven years since Katie and I took over the business from George and Liz, and we still produce some of the fragrances that George designed. As importantly we honour his legacy by finding and using only the highest quality essential oils for Perfume Studio products. (If you want to read more about George and the history of the Perfume Studio see our blog “Then & Now”.)