Norman's professional career began in 1958 when, still as a Ph. D. student under the supervision of Ted Trueman at Hull, he was appointed Lecturer in Zoology at Trinity College, Dublin, completing his Ph. D. in 1959. The following year he moved to University College of North Wales, Bangor, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge of endocrine and cell biology, Norman played a pivotal role in merging the Departments of Zoology, Applied Zoology and Botany to form the School of Animal Biology and in the associated introduction of a general first-year course in Biology. For this, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. During that era in the 1960s, Norman also directed installation of an Electron Microscopy Unit. This unit was his pride and joy and has been the mainstay for much research and teaching in the Faculty of Science and for private industry for over three decades.

Norman's main research interest was in slugs and snails. He tackled broad aspects of their biology, but his classical studies, made in the 1960s in collaboration with P. R. Thornton, of gastropod radulae using the newly invented Scanning Electron Microscope, and his later studies of pulmonate reproduction and endocrinology, probably stand as his most poignant contributions to malacology. He took particular pride in the work of his research students and research assistants, many of whose contributions feature in his highly acclaimed book "Terrestrial Slugs", co-authored with P. J. Hunter. Most recently, Norman forged ahead in the use of computers and digitizers for reconstructing 3-D images of molluscan tissues. The software he wrote not only proved useful to research students but also attracted industrial interest.

During the turn of the year 1966-7, Norman was invited onto a cruise of the R.V. Discovery to study pelagic pteropods. He embarked clean shaven, but returned after several months with the fine beard that was to characterise him for the rest of his life.

Widely known by malacologists from conferences such as Unitas Malacologica in Europe, Norman was a gentle, unpretentious man. His good humour, toothy grin, sharp intellect and wide knowledge will be missed by all who knew him.

Roger Hughes, Bangor