Dr Joseph M Jackson, who has died aged 96, served as a wireless mechanic with the Dambusters squadron and was a church organist in Broughty Ferry for more than 50 years.
He came to Dundee in 1958 to take up a post as a lecturer in economics at the then Queen’s College and retired from Dundee University in 1990 as senior lecturer.
Dr Jackson was organist at Our Lady of Good Counsel for more than half a century until forced to stop by the first lockdown last year.
He was a senior member of the laity of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and served on many bodies including the Catholic Education Commission.
Joseph Michael Jackson was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, in 1925 and educated at St Mary’s Elementary School, and then Newport High School between 1936 and 1941.
He then worked as a temporary clerk at the Ministry of War in Newport. In 1943, Dr Jackson was called up for war service and trained as a wireless mechanic with the RAF.
He served at Woodhall Spa, home of 617 Dambusters squadron who undertook their famous raid in 1943, before postings to Iraq and the Gulf.
During the Middle East postings, his aptitude for teaching became apparent and he became an educational instructor.
Graduation
After the war, Dr Jackson studied at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and graduated with a first class honours degree in 1949.
His son, Adrian, said his father then undertook his PhD into the economics of coal in south Wales at Manchester University.
Dr Jackson began his academic career as a research assistant at University College of Wales where he co-authored with Paul Guenault the book, The Control of Monopoly in the United Kingdom.
In 1953 he married Miriam, a research chemist, who died last year.
Between 1955 and 1958, Dr Jackson was an assistant lecturer in economics at Bedford College, University of London, before being appointed lecturer at Queen’s College, Dundee, then part of St Andrews University.
He remained in Dundee when Queen’s College became Dundee University and retired in 1990.
Life of devotion
The family lived in Broughty Ferry and Dr Jackson was heavily involved in the life and work of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church
He served in the laity at national level on the Catholic Education Committee and the Scottish Catholic Lay Apostolate Council and the Secretariat of the Laity. He was also a member of an advisory committee to the hierarch, headed by Bishop Joseph Devine.
Dr Jackson was installed as a knight of the Holy Sepulchre in St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, with a group of others from Scotland including Archbishop, later Cardinal Thomas Winning.
The family’s announcement can be read here.