OBITUARY - JACK KNIGHTS

The industry has lost one of its great and widely respected flavourists who played a major role in the formation and success of the British Society of Flavourists. He worked for several international companies over his career and became a legend in the industry, highly respected for his ability, knowledge and expertise. Well beyond his retirement there was hardly anyone working in the industry who did not know him or know of him. He helped many new recruits in the companies for whom he worked to learn the skills needed to become flavourists, skills that are both scientific and creational.

Some of the tributes that were received at his funeral reflect the esteem in which he was held:

He was truly a legend in the flavour industry and will be greatly missed.

As well as being a legend in the world of flavour, he was a lovely person to chat too and always smiling.

Jack was a legend in the flavour industry and so passionate about flavour creation. I’ll always treasure his immense wisdom and expertise in all things related to flavour.

His enthusiasm for the subject of flavourings never waned.

Jack was honestly the very best of us. He will be missed but never forgotten.

Jack was a legend!

Jack is one of those colleagues I have known all my career. Sad news indeed

Jack was well-known and well-respected in the flavour community and leaves the legacy of the Flavourist course.

Jack Knights was born in 1933 in Enfield, North London where, apart from a period of 4 years during the war when he was evacuated to Bury St Edmonds, he was brought up. He attended The Latymer School in Enfield, a long established and highly respected grammar school. In his senior years at school he studied maths, physics and chemistry and obtained a scholarship to read chemistry at Imperial College London. When he completed is degree he was 21 and had to do 2 years National Service, which was required of all young people in the 1950s. Because of his interest in maths, physics and engineering he was assigned to the Royal Signals where he learned radio mechanics.

After completing his degree and national service he began his career at Polak & Schwartz in Quality Control, where he had had vacation employment as a student. This was a Dutch flavour and fragrance company but he was based in the British offshoot in Greenford. In QC he experienced the aroma and taste attributes of many different flavour components and realised that he possessed those distinctive attributes required of a flavourist. In 1958 Polak & Schwartz merged with an American flavour and fragrance company to form IFF. Here he continued to develop his skills as a flavourist and worked his way up from a graduate flavour chemist to technical manager. In 1972 he moved to Barnet and Foster as technical manager, but soon was offered a position as technical director at Polaks Frutal Works (PFW). This was also a Dutch company and had a strong research tradition and was interested in the chemistry of flavours. This fitted well with his early chemical training and his flavourist skills developed in quality control.

Richard Clark worked with Jack at PFW for 20 years and reflected

“I Joined PFW as a flavourist in 1975, shortly before Jack Knights joined in 1976 as Technical Director. I worked with him until he retired in 1996 and it was a very productive working relationship. This was the era in which the meat flavour work really took off. PFW, had a centre of excellence in the Netherlands for analytical research and worked on meat flavour, mainly beef but also chicken. They synthesised the compounds that were being identified.  Jack and I were able to work with all the newly discovered flavour compounds to create some completely unique meat flavours. Many of these savoury flavours that were highly successful in the market and are still there to this day.”

In the 1960s Jack was one of a group of flavourist who saw a need for an organisation to promote the interests of individuals working within the Flavour Industry, including flavourists, food technologists, marketing and sales executives and in 1970 Jack, together Bill Littlejohn, Arthur Phillips and Sam Tong, established the British Society of Flavourists. He was Treasurer for many years (1998 – 2011) as well as President in 1985 and 1986. The aims of the BSF today remain those when it was established in 1970.

In the 1980s/1990s Jack served on the Technical Committee of BEMA (British Essence Manufacturers Association), now the UK Flavour Association, which represents the interests of the flavour manufacturing industry in the UK dealing with the legislative and technical needs of the industry. He was Chairman of the committee for a number of years and his considerable technical knowledge and experience of flavourings was a great asset to BEMA and he played a pivotal role, along with Joy Hardinge, in the scrutiny and amendment of the flavourings regulation that now governs flavouring regulations in the EU/UK.  

Another of Jack’s lasting achievements is the BSF Flavourist Training Course.  Throughout much of his career Jack had been involved in training of company recruits to become flavourists and following discussions within BSF and some flavour companies Jack approached Don Mottram at the University of Reading about the possibility of holding a short course for the flavouring industry in the University food science laboratories. He sought the help of experienced flavourists to tutor the course and the help of companies for the supply of flavour and natural products to use in the laboratory. The first course was held in 2002 and has continued annually since then as a three-week residential course. The course continues in the form Jack established and it is a great tribute to Jack that it is now recognised throughout the world. It is unique in its content and emphasis on the practical creation of flavourings. Since 2002 over 250 people have participated in the course. It has a truly wide international reputation with participants from 49 different countries and currently has more applications than it can take each year. It also brings significant interest in the BSF worldwide and this is all attributable to Jack, a founder member of the BSF, who not only developed the initial course at Reading University but oversaw its development from year to year.

Jack will be remembered by many people as a gifted flavour scientist, an accomplished manager and highly respected tutor and teacher. But he was also a great friend among work and science colleagues. He will be missed but never forgotten.  Our thoughts go to his wife Val and his four children.