Last month we hosted a visit of the family of alumnus Richard Osman (MSc in Mining Geology, 1999) and donors who supported the University with a gift to establish the ‘Richard Osman Memorial Fund’ to honour the memory of Richard who sadly passed away in 2016. During the visit, a teaching space in the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) was also named the ‘Richard Osman Teaching Room’ as a lasting tribute to him.
On Friday 24 February we welcomed Richard’s widow Aurelie and daughters Victoire and Olympe (pictured) to our Penryn Campus to celebrate Richard’s life and memory with a room naming event and to mark the impact of the ‘Richard Osman Memorial Fund’. The Fund was established through generous support from Richard’s former employees, colleagues, family and friends who have supported the University with a gift of £700,000. This will fund scholarships for students studying on the MSc Mining Geology and MSc Exploration Geology programmes and enable us to award up to 40 fully funded scholarships, over 20 years.
The room naming ceremony took place in the Stella Turk building and was hosted by Professor Pat Foster, Director of the Camborne School of Mines (CSM). Also in attendance were Professor Dave Hosken (Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy), Dr Pete Whitbread-Abrutat who is Chair of the CSM Trust, family, friends and former colleagues of Richard, and two Richard Osman scholars, Lucy Slater and Joe North, who are supported by the Fund.
Professor Foster welcomed guests and in his speech commented on how important the teaching space – now known as the ‘Richard Osman Teaching Room’ – is for students and how future students will know Richard through its use:
“This room is a hive of activity. Every student at CSM over the past 19 years on this campus has spent time studying in this room; whether it be mining engineers looking at rocks or geologists learning about the intricacies of geological mapping or staring down microscopes for hours looking at mineralogy; or masters students pulling an all-nighter in the last week or evening before the hand in of their dissertations, or even just generally chilling out… (it) is a special place and is engrained in the memories of all who have studied here.
“With this in mind, it is particularly pleasing, but in other ways sad, that we are gathered here to formally name this space the Richard Osman Geology Teaching lab in memory of our Alumnus Richard Osman, in front of his family, friends and colleagues in the industry, as a lasting tribute that honours Richard’s memory.”
During the speech, he also covered Richard’s time studying on campus and the impact he made during his career before tragically losing his life in a plane crash in May 2016 at the young age of 40. He also and thanked Richard’s former employer Centamin who became the founding donor to the Richard Osman Memorial Fund as well other contributors including, Capital Drilling, Altus Strategies, and Ariana Resources.
Afterwards Aurelia and Josef El-Raghey, Richard’s former Centamin colleague and friend, shared some words and Richards daughters formally unveiled a plaque which marked the name this room the ‘Richard Osman Geology Teaching Lab” in recognition of the leading donors to the fund and their significant support and contribution to CSM and the University, and for Richard as a lasting tribute to his memory as an alumnus of the school.
Following the plaque unveiling current Richard Osman Scholars, Lucy Slater and Joe North, shared their thanks and gave an update on their progress. They joined the MSc Exploration Geology course in October 2022 and you can hear from one of the scholars in this clip.
During the remainder of the event attendees had a tour of the CSM, and were able to see and use our new virtual mining room and 3D/virtual reality mining experience, followed by lunch. The occasion was special, and emotional, and we were honoured to be able to celebrate Richard’s legacy with those close to him. We also continue to be grateful for the generosity who have contributed to honouring Richard’s memory through the Fund.
You can find out more about the work of CSM online and the Fund through our website.
