28 January 1947 - 25 December 2009
Sadly, we report the death of Commander Nick Haines RN (Ret’d) CEng. FIMarEST FIEE and FCIPD on 25th December 2009. Born on 28th January 1947, Nick joined the Southern Electricity Board as a student engineering apprentice, gaining a BSc. in Electrical Engineering from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1971 before joining the Royal Navy in 1972.
Nick pursued a naval career serving for much of his time as an Instructor Officer at the Royal Naval Engineering College (RNEC) Manadon. From 1972 to ‘74 he served as an Instructor Officer onboard HMS Bulwark (1973) and HMS Collingwood. From 1974 to ’77 he was a Lecturer in Engineering at RNEC before being assigned to a tour of duty on HMS Ark Royal and then, as a Staff Officer at the Ministry of Defence in London.
Continuing his career at Manadon, he was awarded an MSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Aston University (1980), and then spent two years as a Senior Lecturer at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. (1983-85). He returned to RNEC in 1985 becoming Deputy Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 1990, he was appointed Assistant Dean and Head of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at RNEC before retiring from the Royal Navy in 1996.
Since his retirement from the Royal Navy, Nick had a fulfilled second career in Engineering and Management Consultancy and enjoyed his active involvement in IMarEST affairs. His unswerving passion for engineering meant he was keen to support a wide range of the Institute’s conference events and he also assisted with professional and academic accreditation matters for both the Royal Navy and other Navies of the world, as well as Merchant Marine organisations. He took great pleasure from representing the Institute on matters of accreditation of taught programmes and conducting Professional Review Interviews for upgrading members, across the world.
Nick was well known across a wide spectrum of organisations, through his enthusiastic support, particularly given to young engineers, and his delightfully sharp wit. He will be very much missed. He leaves behind Pam, his wife of 32 years.
Written by Dr Richard Bucknall