Graham Pollard

Expert in medals, coins and Cambridge life

Graham Pollard, who has died of cancer aged 77, was a great expert on Italian Renaissance medals. He was also an archetypal Cambridge man, active in the affairs of the university, Wolfson College and the Fitzwilliam Museum, and he played a crucial role in the preservation of the character of the city.

He was born in Gillingham, Kent, and, as a schoolboy, during the second world war he was fascinated by Rochester Museum. His interest in the Fitzwilliam began at the end of the second world war, when his family moved to Cambridge. He remained on the staff for 41 years, starting as an attendant, and he learned gracious italic handwriting for museum labels.

After national service (1948-50), he returned to the museum and began his long association with the coin room. He continued working there part time while reading history at Pembroke College. From 1954, he was junior assistant keeper; in 1966, he became keeper of coins and medals; and from 1969 until 1988, he was deputy director of the museum. Under Graham, the coin room at the Fitzwilliam became a very special place. Not only did he build up the collection with a mixture of scholarship and an eye for the beautiful and the curious, but he also made it a centre where fellow experts, dealers and collectors came together - because looking at coins and medals with him was a life-enhancing experience.

So too were contacts outside the Fitzwilliam. His involvement with the British Art Medal Society was crucial. As a foundation member and first chairman (later called president), he played a key role in ensuring that the society remained steeped in the traditions of the medal, while becoming a major force in encouraging its art. At council meetings, he combined a clear mind and an openness to new ideas.

Comparable qualities are evident in his written work. From a relatively early volume, such as his revised and enlarged Medals of the Renaissance by Sir George Hill, scholarship is tempered by humanity as in his two great works, his multi-volume catalogues of the Bargello in Florence and of the medals in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Both will remain standard works.

Sadly in 1988 Graham took early retirement. Shortly before his death,

he delivered an urbane speech to the British Art Medal Societyat its anniversary meeting.

His wife Maria predeceased him. Their son Lawrence survives him.

· John Graham Pollard, numismatist and museum curator, born December 25 1929; died December 17 2007

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