My friend Donald Pigott, who has died aged 94, was the last surviving founding professor of Lancaster University, and as a plant ecologist was influential in setting up the National Vegetation Survey in the 1970s, the first detailed classification of the range of plant species and their distribution within the vegetation types of the British Isles. The results were published in five volumes between 1991 and 2000, and have formed the basis for many other ecological studies.
Donald was born in Sutton, Surrey, to John, a tea importer, and his wife, Helen (nee Lee). His mother taught him to recognise many plant species from an early age, and at Mill Hill school in north London, which was evacuated to Cumbria in the second world war, he developed a fascination with the countryside.
