Brian Goodwin was a Canadian mathematician and biologist, and a founder of theoretical biology and biomathematics. He introduced the use of complex systems and generative models in developmental biology and suggested that a reductionist view of Nature fails to explain complex features, controversially proposing the “fringe” structuralist theory that morphogenetic fields might substitute for natural selection in driving evolution. His much celebrated book Nature’s Due: Healing Our Fragmented Culture was published in 2007. Brian was a prominent advocate for holistic science and on his retirement in 1992 he took up residence at Schumacher College, in Devon. He conducted MSc courses in holistic science and used walks in the countryside to demonstrate his conviction that living organisms are shaped by “natural forms”, as well as evolution through the survival of the fittest. He was an accomplished pianist and often played the music of Schubert, his favourite composer, to his students. He passed away in 2009.