Francis William Fox, biochemist and nutritionist, obtained an MSc degree in biochemistry at the University of London. Late in 1924, when he was working at St George's Hospital in London, he was appointed as biochemist at the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg, assuming duty in 1925. Soon after his appointment he was awarded the degree Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of London. He remained with the institute as head of the Department of Biochemistry for his entire career, until his retirement in 1954. Nutrition became his main interest. He came to be regarded as the founder of nutritional science in South Africa and gained international credit for his work. During the course of his career he published over 100 scientific papers, most on nutrition (including a series of twelve on the agricultural foundations of nutrition in the South African Medical Journal), but including some popular articles on science education and other topics. After his retirement he remained an active researcher at the institute until shortly before his death and held the special title of research officer emeritus.
Fox was the first to carry out extensive food surveys in southern Africa and to identify numerous biochemical and metabolic characteristics of diseases of under-nutrition and over-nutrition, particularly of scurvy and obesity. Among others he studied various aspects of scurvy on the mines of the Witwatersrand for many years and published a report on "Scurvy and the requirements of native mine labourers for the antiscorbutic vitamin" (Proceedings of the Transvaal Mine Medical Officers' Association, 1936). During the nineteen-thirties he initiated a series of studies on food constituents, eating habits, nutritional deficiencies, nutritional requirements, food handling and food preparation practices among Black South Africans, starting his research with anthropometric measurements of children and young adults. In a paper on "Diet and health in South Africa: Malnutrition" (South African Medical Journal, 1936) he reviewed the evidence of malnutrition and suggested adequate diets. His field studies took him to rural areas in southern Africa such as Botswana, Sekhukhuniland and the Transkei and on two occasions he acted as consultant on nutritional services in Iran and Peru. In 1934 he initiated a survey of edible plants and in his later years, with Mrs M. E. Norwood Young as co-author, published Food from the veld (1982), in which hundreds of species of edible veld plants in southern Africa were described.
Fox was a humble and compassionate man who was concerned with what he could do as researcher to benefit other people, especially the poor. He became a member of the South African Chemical Institute in 1925, served on its council from 1927 to 1942, as vice-president during 1929-1930 and as president for 1930-1931. In 1943 he was appointed as a member of the National Nutrition Council for six years. In 1955 he was appointed as a member of the Soil Conservation Council. He married Faith Ruth Pearl in 1927 and was survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
