Ben Porges died on 6 December 1999. He was an engineer by training who founded a company, Flexibox, which became widely known and widely respected in the engineering field, in particular in relation to oil pipelines. His contribution to psychiatry will not at first be obvious to readers of this journal, but he endowed the Foundation Chair in OLd Age Psychiatry in the University of Manchester. His wife, Marianne, died of Alzheimer's disease and it was to honour her memory that he funded the Chair. He kept an active interest in the field and used his connections to further research funding.

When university and health service money is tight, endowments like this are a welcome and a necessary vehicle to fund academic developments. It is poignant that a contribution like this should grow out of such personal tragedy but this makes the contribution even more significant in personal terms.