Clive Lee: 18 February 1939 – 2 November 2021

Obituary by John Timperley

Professor Clive Lee, who has died at the age of 82, was a talented engineer who worked in the department of Engineering at the University of Exeter. In collaboration with Professor Robin Ling, Clive Lee was co-designer of the Exeter Hip (née Ling-Lee Hip), a radically different design of hip prosthesis whose 50th anniversary after first implantation was celebrated last year.

Clive Lee, working as an engineer at the University of Exeter and Robin Ling, serving as a surgeon at the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital, collaborated in what proved to be a model relationship for how professionals should interact to design implants for the benefit of patients. They decided to restrict usage of the implant to Exeter for five years so that the fewest possible patients were exposed to any unforeseen risk. Although the practice would not be allowed today, Clive Lee would attend the operating room and assist in surgery to gain better insight into the problems involved in surgery during this pioneering time.

Clive Lee’s hands-on training at Rolls-Royce was to define the way he approached his work; he described himself as a problem solver and practical person. As Robin Ling observed and reported how the Exeter Hip behaved in clinical practice, Clive Lee used his knowledge of materials and engineering to carry out laboratory experiments to explain how the Exeter Hip functions by a ‘taper-slip’ principle of fixation. His groundbreaking work on how the material used to fix the implant (polymethylmethacrylate), behaves in the body, now forms reference text in orthopaedic textbooks the world over. Between them, Ling and Lee built on the work of Sir John Charnley, the father of successful hip replacement, to explain how implants retain fixation to the skeleton in the long term and they developed instruments to further improve clinical results for patients.

Alan John Clive Lee was born in Kings Norton, Birmingham on 18th February 1939. He was awarded a direct grant scholarship to attend Solihull School, where he took his ‘A’ levels a year early. He attended the University of Nottingham where he achieved a first-class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. His five years at university included an apprenticeship at the Derby works of Rolls-Royce Limited, during which time he qualified as a Designer in August 1962. He worked for 18 months in the drawing office at Rolls-Royce, working on jet engine design before returning to the Engineering Department in Nottingham to undertake a PhD which he submitted in December 1965. In August the following year, he was appointed as Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Engineering at University of Exeter where he maintained academic positions until his retirement. For a long time, he was Head of the School of Engineering. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Exeter, alongside his collaborator on the Exeter Hip, Robin Ling, in July 2009 and a Professorship at the same institution in 2020.

Clive Lee’s practical nature was reflected in his hobbies. He designed and made toys for his children and built models of several rigged ships, including one of the Royal Yacht of Charles II, the Royal Caroline, a name shared with his daughter. He painted in acrylic throughout his life and, whilst on sabbatical in New Jersey, even developed an interest in crewel art. His artistic creations adorn many walls in his home in Exeter.

Professor Lee will not only be remembered for his association with the Exeter Hip over a 50-year period but also for the excellence and clarity of his teaching, his scientific rigour, and his ability to work and inspire across teams. Clive is survived by his wife of 56 years, Pamela (née Hammond) and two children. His children, Philip, and Caroline both followed in the footsteps of their father to Nottingham University where they, too, graduated in an Engineering discipline. He will be much missed by all.