Dan died eighteen months ago today, on 13 April 2024 of a sudden and unexpected heart attack, age forty-seven. He was brilliant and with many accomplishments.
He was the first student from Hackney Sixth Form College, London, England, to ever win a place at Oxford or Cambrige. With a M.Sc. from Oxford and a doctoral degree from Cambridge in biochemistry, he moved to Brazil where he married Rachel, his beloved wife. He learnt to speak Portuguese and was very proud that he could speak with her fluently in her native language.
In Brazil he entertained himself by devising complicated computer programs that helped to assess the efficacy of medical treatments and interventions. Instead of selling them, he put them on the internet open source so they were available to all.
After returning to England with Rachel he went on to work on dengue fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Then in the United States, he worked on cancer, too.
Although Dan’s gone you can still find Dan’s work on the internet – at the National Library of Medicine.
Dan adored animals. Dan never met a cat that he didn’t love. Hungry street cats had a special place in his heart and he adopted them. After work, Dan’s three cats would stretch out on him and relax.
Dan had a wicked sense of humor. He also had a strong sense of social and economic justice. He was keen to see the development of an alternative economy that did not depend on exploitative capitalism. And he tried to use his gifts and talents to help make a better world.
Today, eighteen months since Dan’s death, I feel deep gratitude to the Buddha, for his teachings and for showing us the path. And I feel deep gratitude to Dan, for being born to me and for sharing a part of his life with me. Thank you, Shakyamuni. Thank you, Dan.
We all miss you, Dan!!!!!
“Neither fire, nor wind, birth, nor death, can erase our good deeds.” -Sakyamuni Buddha
You can find more about Dan at:
https://everloved.com/life-of/daniel-hughes/ (Daniel Hughes memorial website.)
https://www.youtube.com/live/Fg5hxhdg6LQ (A memorial serivce at the London Buddhist Centre, Bethnal Green, London, England on 27 April 2025. Led by Dharmacharini Maitreyi. Starts at 33 minutes in, ends at 1 hour and 37 minutes.)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7570057/ (National Library of Medicine.)