Brian McDermott (1930–2013)

Brian McDermott died aged 82 on 12 September 2013. A successful stockbroker who travelled extensively in Africa, he set up the Mathaf Gallery in Knightsbridge to showcase the best of Orientalist art. Born of Irish and American descent, McDermott read history at New College, Oxford, and went on to serve as an officer in the Irish Guards, where he was introduced to the Middle East and Africa. After leaving the army, he led a successful career as a stockbroker in London, intertwined with numerous adventures in Africa in 1960s & ‘70s: to the Kalahari Desert, Ethiopia’s Danakil territory and an extended stay with Nuer pastoralists in Sudan’s Nile Valley. A long serving Fellow of the Society, he served on the Society’s Council and was a member of the Geographical Club.