Professor John Harbison (23 December 1935 – 18 December 2020) was the first State Pathologist of

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Early life and education

Harbison was born in the

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and include ...

area to Sheelagh Harbison and her husband Dr James Austin Harbison, educated locally, and at

St Gerard's School, Bray St Gerard's School is a lay Catholic co-educational independent day school in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. A fee-charging school, it is administered by a Board of Governors as a charitable trust. As of 2019, the student population was about ...

and

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. The school has been fully co-educational sinc ...

, and subsequently graduated from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1960. He had at least one brother and his father was a doctor, who had held roles as county and city medical officer. His brother Peter Harbison is an archaeologist.

Career

He worked at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children and held positions in hospitals in

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and

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before becoming an assistant pathologist in TCD. He was a lecturer in

medical jurisprudence Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal ...

in TCD and became the first state pathologist in 1974. He worked on cases including the

Kerry babies The Kerry Babies case () was a 1984 investigation by the Garda Síochána in County Kerry, Ireland, into the killing of one newborn baby and the alleged killing of another. The mother who concealed the second baby, Joanne Hayes, was arrested and ...

Sophie Toscan du Plantier Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a 39-year-old French woman, was killed outside her holiday home near Toormore, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on the night of 23 December 1996. British journalist Ian Bailey, who lived near Toscan du Plantier's home ...

Brian Murphy Brian Murphy may refer to: Sportspeople * Brian Murphy (Jamaican cricketer) (born 1973), Jamaican cricketer * Brian Murphy (Zimbabwean cricketer) (born 1976), Zimbabwean cricketer * Brian Murphy (baseball) (born 1980), American head baseball coach ...

and

Grangegorman Grangegorman () is an inner suburb on the northside of Dublin city, Ireland. The area is administered by Dublin City Council. It was best known for decades as the location of St Brendan's Hospital, which was the main psychiatric hospital ...

, carrying out around 100 post mortems a year. In 1991 he was appointed Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

. He ceased performing post mortems in 2003, at the age of 67. In 2006 health issues prevented him from giving testimony in court cases. He was succeeded as State Pathologist by Professor Marie Cassidy.

Personal life

Harbison was married to Kathleen Harbison in 1979, and they had two children and two grandchildren. He and his family used to live at Innisbeg in Howth. He died on 18 December 2020, just five days before his 85th birthday. His funeral took place at Glasnevin Crematorium on 21 December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbison, John 1935 births People from Howth People educated at St Gerard's School, Bray People educated at Stonyhurst College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish pathologists 2020 deaths