Cambridge lost an international authority on Renaissance medals on 17 December 2007 with the death of Graham Pollard.

Graham had a long and distinguished career at the university. He was Deputy Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum from 1969 to 1988 and was Keeper of Coins from 1966 to 1988.

His role involved supervising the Department of Coins and Medals, an international centre for research and teaching in numismatics, the scientific study of currency and its history. It embraces money in many different forms, from all parts of the world and spanning ancient to modern times, as well as medals since their origin in the Renaissance.

Graham began working at the museum in 1947 and worked in various positions, including Assistant Keeper of Coins [from 1954 to 1966] before being appointed Keeper of Coins.

He had an international academic pedigree. His massive two-volume study of Renaissance Medals was published by the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Described as “breaking new ground in the scholarly literature of the field”, it documented the Gallery's collection of Italian medals of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, German medals of the sixteenth century, French baroque medals, and smaller groups of Netherlandish and English medals.

The two books were compiled over a period of 20 years and represent the first comprehensive catalogue of the Gallery's collection of Renaissance-era medals. The detail covered is unprecedented, including technical information such as the alloy composition of each medal.

Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art, said the books would “help scholars worldwide achieve a better scientific and cultural understanding of these important works of art, offering a better sense of what medals symbolized for artists and patrons in Europe".

Pollard was also dedicated to Cambridge college life. He was a Fellow of Wolfson College from 1967. He was also Wolfson's Librarian from 1980 to 1995 and served on the College Council from 1982 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1992.

Gordon Johnson, President of Wolfson, said “Graham was a valued and active member of the College beyond retirement. He was particularly helpful in the design of the College Library and always an agreeable companion at lunch or dinner. In recent years, he was the genial Cambridge secretary of the Ad Eundem dining club.”

Graham died on 17 December. His wife Maria died on 25 November, just three weeks earlier, following a long period of ill health. They were survived by their only son, Lawrence Pollard.

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