Grundon, Michael Francis (1926–89), chemist, was born 21 June 1926 in London, son of H. S. Grundon and Sheila Lock. He was educated at Wellington school, Somerset, where he won a scholarship to read chemistry at Magdalen College, Oxford. He gained a second-class degree in natural science (1947) and a D.Phil. in chemistry (1950). On completion of his studies he held a postdoctorate fellowship (1950–52) at the University of Rochester, USA, before returning to the UK as ICI research fellow (1952–3) at the University of Glasgow. In 1956 he was appointed lecturer in organic chemistry at the chemistry department of QUB, where he remained, apart from a sabbatical year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, until 1967. At Belfast he wrote Organic chemistry: an introduction (1962) with Harold Bernard Henbest, which was translated into several other languages and was widely used as an introductory text. His main interest as an organic chemist was the alkaloids and he published over 140 papers in scientific journals. He also edited the specialist periodical reports of the Royal Society of Chemistry on the alkaloids; he was interested in the chemistry of natural products, particularly in the synthesis and biosynthesis of the furoquinolines produced by the higher plants.
In 1967 he was one of the founding professors of the New University of Ulster at Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, where he helped organise the chemistry department. He was greatly involved in the governance of the university, serving as dean of the school of physical sciences and as pro-vice-chancellor. In 1974 he was appointed to the board of governors of Belfast High School; he became chairman of the board in 1982. He was elected MRIA in 1968. He died 20 March 1989 at Coleraine hospital, and was survived by his wife Sheila (m. 1951) and sons Christopher and Adam.