ICTOP, ICOM, and UNESCO have lost one of their most brilliant and influential members. Professor Patrick  J. Boylan died on February 8^th 2024. In 1983, at a time when there were already three ICTOP members on the ICOM Board, Patrick was elected Chairperson of ICTOP after already having been an influential member for several years. He held that office until 1989 when other obligations called upon him. However, in 1998 he returned to the chairmanship until 2004. He continued to dominate the annual ICTOP meetings although we had to share him with so many other organisations

Patrick was born in Hull in 1939 and went to school and university there, graduating in geography and geology. After three years of teaching he joined the staff at Hull Museum and Art Gallery, moving to become director of the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter in 1968. He made a considerable impact at Exeter, reorganising exhibits and persuading the City Council to set up its own archaeology unit, leading to a remarkably long history of excavations in the city.

From Exeter Patrick moved in 1972 to Leicester where he stayed for 18 years as Director of the Arts, Museums and Record Services. It was during this period that he completed his PhD and began to develop a national and international involvement in the fields of environmental protection, museum policy and studies in the history of geology, whilst bringing together the museums, heritage properties and record offices of Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland into a single integrated service. Later, he took responsibility for the County’s involvement with the arts, including theatre and music.

In 1990 Patrick moved to City University, London as Professor of Heritage Policy and Management, eventually retiring back to Leicester. By that time he was a Consultant to UNESCO, the EU, the World Heritage Committee, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and many national governments. He had a leading role in developing and implementing the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. He was centenary President of The (UK) Museums Association in 1978 to 1980. He was the co-founder of BLUE SHIELD, created in 1996, an organization founded to work to protect the world’s cultural heritage threatened by wars and natural disasters, described as a kind of “Red Cross for the cultural domain”.

He wrote very widely with over 200 publications across many disciplines.  He wrote the history of ICOM between 1946 and 1996 and with special interest for ICTOP members “a practical manual for managing a museum” and an unfinished history of ICTOP and museum training.

He was a member of ICOM since 1976, and was Vice President 1982 to 1988, Member of Legal Affairs Committee, Member of Ethics Committee and an Honorary Member of ICOM from 1994

He died on 8^th February 2024 after several years of declining health.

RIP Patrick, you will be missed by so many. 

We send our deepest condolences to the family members.