A former State Services Commissioner and Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Dr Mervyn Probine died on 17 April 2010, aged 86. Dr Probine was Chairman of the State Services Commission (SSC) from 1981 to 1986, and was also a former Assistant Director-General of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1964 during his time as a physicist with DSIR, having joined what became its Physics and Engineering Laboratory as a draughtsman in 1942. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree at what was at that time Auckland University College, a Masters at Victoria University College, Wellington, and finally, in 1959, a Doctorate at the University of Leeds. He became Director of the Physics and Engineering Laboratory in 1967, moving to his Head Office role in DSIR in 1977. He was involved with many other organisations, including the Ross Dependency Research Committee, the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand, the New Zealand Institute of Physics, and the New Zealand Technology Advancement Trust. He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London).