Recipes

Tributes

Poem - ‘Alan’ by Robb Jutras

Alan’s page

Mad as a hatter...?!

           Professor Alan Hunter

     In memory of a very special man

       (pictured below dressed for dinner...!)

My Friend Alan - One Hundred Good Things about Him
 

(Well that was the aim but I could only think of 11!)

First, Alan taught me how to think!  Before then I just mumbled and dribbled down my chin!

Second, Alan also taught me how to write.  Before then I wrote for the tabloids!  Now I regularly ‘which hunt’, use punctuation like the ‘Cambridge comma’ and regularly read Strunk and White! Although still a bit confused about use of data and datum!

Third, Alan is bonkers but all the people I know, want to know, and admire are also bonkers. The rest of them wish they were, but wouldn’t dream of admitting it!

Alan can also be very rude and argumentative.  I have noticed, however, that he is only rude and argumentative with people he has time for and  likes.  I guess that might include me - as he is pretty darn rude at times!!

Dear Alan is very creative.  He is in fact a creator (no, not The Creator). Everything from ideas, food, writing, art, music (although he has strange taste) to dialogue. In fact, he is, I suspect a little tortured by all these creative thoughts, in a desire to achieve more and more in his search for the truth about everything.

Because Alan is so creative, he is an inspiration to me and others.  His endless flows of innovation can only be admired as they are liberally mixed with generous bouts of acerbic wit and humour.

On the downside, Alan is a bit obsessed with strange things that no-one else understands. Like mathematics and the Apple Macintosh (when will he get a real computer?!).

On the subject of mathematics, this seems to be his second love (we all know the first and it’s not pickle).  If it doesn’t contain math, or can’t be explained by math, then it may well not exist. Incomprehensible symbols and strange numbers mixed with a desire for various sub and superscript figures seem to be the order of the day. What does it all mean?  Well, it may mean the workings of a highly logical and rational mind.  But there again, Alan is as mad as a hatter (getting my own back on the insults now, he’s not here to argue!). But, and this is the wonder of Alan, like the beautiful person he is, he has a beautiful and enquiring mind.

Alan is, although he would not admit it, and on no account must he ever be told, a dear, warm, loving man!  Despite all his faults (and believe me, there are tons of them that I would take great pleasure in debating), Alan cares deeply about his family, friends and all those around him.

Finally, Alan is someone I am extremely privileged to call my friend; although he often has a rather more derogative term for the relationship!

Alan, there are not enough words to describe my respect for you and how grateful I am to be counted as your friend - Thank you.

Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye...
 - Emily Dickenson, Number 435

Yet I still dwell
In a strange land
Beholding your life,
Possessing your hand.

 - E.B.White, “Of things That Are”, New York World, 20 August 1928

(Bob’s contribution to the Tribute book compiled by Ian for Alan’s 74th birthday)

As described above, Alan had a great interest in many things. Not the least amongst them was food - particularly pickle - upon which he compiled a great tome (one of many tomes compiled in research of food!). Bob and I have even had the privilege to taste a few of these delights and are the proud owners of a jar of pear and ginger pickle made by the man himself on our visit to his home during our honeymoon in August 2004. (see below)

We visited Alan and Gloria, upon our arrival in Montreal and also on our return from Quebec when we were presented with this culinary masterpiece which he said he had concocted while we were, and I quote, “messing about” in Quebec!

Published for the first time on the web! (I think!) are some of Alan’s favourite pickles from his book ‘Pickle me this’’        

click here for more of Alan’s recipes

I do not mean to infer however that Alan’s interest was in any way limited to pickle (in any way limited in fact...!) He was interested in food of every other kind. He was most diligently profuse in his abuse of those unhappy specimens (Bob..!) who choose to avoid meat and fish in preference to the ‘fruits’ of the vegetable kingdom and was constantly trying to persuade Bob to change his eating habits to something more ‘sensible’...!

Quite without success I might add, but kindly pandering to the whims of his friend he made a special cheese fondue for us - my very first as I had never experienced such a thing before. Very rich but very good and we have published the recipe for all those fondue fans out there (see link above).

With the help of some thoughts from Ian about his father, we have compiled our own ‘Alan’ page devoted solely to him and his interests. We wanted to create something that reflected Alan and his thirst for knowledge of every kind, so we decided to create a page where people could learn, not only more about him but also about his interests. (some of them anyway, since the field is so mind-bogglingly vast!) We hope you will enjoy them and enjoy learning something new in true Alan Hunter tradition.

Click here to continue

Having read the content of these pages, one might be forgiven for thinking that this was the sum total (quite some total however!) of his achievements. In fact, he also managed to find time for a career! – the highlights of which are detailed below:

Alan received a Masters Degree in Chemistry from Downing College , Cambridge University. Upon graduation he first worked for the Nestle Co., in England (despite his life-long preference for savoury as opposed to sweet foods). He then worked for ICI in the North of England.  He moved to Canada (Kingston, Ontario) in 1957 and worked for CIL. 

In 1966, he was transferred to Montreal and worked for Cel-Cil Fibres (a merger between CIL and Canadian Celanese).  He was Product Director and during his last year with Cel-Cil (1967) worked for some time with his favourite secretary (Gloria!). In 1968 he was transferred to New York to work at the Celanese Corp of America.  Gloria joined Alan in New York in 1969.  They were married the following year and Alan became a proud father to Ian Hunter in 1973.

He rose to giddy heights (typical of Alan) and eventually became corporate Vice President. He eventually became Director of Planning for Celanese Fibres but as is also typical of the Alan we know, didn't like it and took early retirement in 1986.  Alan was then headhunted and asked to teach at several universities in the US but chose North Carolina State University .

Alan and family then moved to Raleigh and he taught Management at the College of Textile, NCSU.  He taught both undergraduates and graduates (he much preferred the latter and had little time for the former – ‘minds like steel traps’ is a phrase that often came to the fore!) It was during his time at NCSU that he collaborated closely with Russ King and Gordon Berstrasser and a number of other academics.

Part of the output from this period was the development of the Apparel Retail Modelling System (ARMS) that has received much praise and attention from the apparel industry. 

‘Crossing the divide’ yet again Alan worked closely with a number of commercial firms, including GAP. Alan was one of the leading thinkers and prime movers behind a strategy that became known in commercial sectors as Quick Response (QR) and is still widely adopted by many international firms. Thus, it was during his time at NCSU he published his first book called Quick Response in Apparel Manufacturing (1990) that was hailed as a landmark study of the industry:

(www.textileinstitutebooks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TI&Product_Code=1870812301).

He was also responsible for the establishment of the National Textile Centre QR Programme at the University.

He retired again in 1993 (some would say Alan never really retired, he just switched interests) and moved to Montreal continuing as a Visiting Professor at NCSU for several more years. In 1996 he was asked by the Quebec Government to complete an innovative study of selected apparel producers in the Estrie (Eastern Townships).

In 1999 Alan, Russ and Bob collaborated on a major publication by John Wiley & Sons called: Quick Response: Managing the Supply Chain to Meet Consumer Demand:

(http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471988332.html).

This received many favourable reviews from practitioners and academicians and was followed in 2002 by The Textile/Clothing Pipeline and Quick Response Management (published by the Textile Institute: (www.textileinstitutebooks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TI&Product_Code=1870372379& Category_Code=Management)

That was Alan’s third book; he also published a huge number of papers in leading academic journals that are widely read and sought-after today.