Mark Purdey

Mark was born in 1953, turned down a university place to start his own organic farm at the age of 19. In the late 1980s he started to teach himself neurobiology and in the mid-1990s began worldwide field research to discover the truth behind BSE, CJD and other neurodegenerative diseases. He was a vociferous campaigner on these issues making TV programmes, publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals and lecturing at many prestigious institutions. He died in November 2006 of a brain tumour and is survived by his wife and eight children.