Last years and death
Fleming was a very modest man. He accepted the honors and acclaim diffidently. He once said: "Professional jealousy can be a most brutal and terrifying phenomenon." Although he became world wide known, he remained a man of humility who was very quiet and kept his personal life to himself. He enjoyed an evening game of snooker at the Chelsea Arts Club.. He is author of about 100 scientific papers. Among Fleming’s best papers were those prepared as addresses for endowed lectureships. He also published novel techniques or wrote brief biographic memoirs. He was not interested in philosophy or rhetoric. His dedication to science and human health is fully reflected in his writings. A collection of Fleming’s published work and unpublished manuscripts including letters and diaries along with other documents are available from the Wright-Fleming Institute. The Inoculation department, where Fleming worked, merged with the Institute of Pathology and Research in 1933, and it was renamed the Wright-Fleming Institute in 1948. In that year, Fleming retired as professor of bacteriology from the University of London, where, he held the chair since 1928. He became director of the Institute in 1946 when Sir Wright retired, and remained there until January of 1955.
Fleming's first wife, Sarah, died in 1949. Their only child, Robert Fleming, became a general medical practitioner. As the years passed, Fleming recovered from the loss of his wife. He was elected rector of Edinburgh University in 1951 and he also began to work closely with a greek female doctor Amalia Coutsouris-Voureka. She spent long hours in his laboratory, mastering the science of bacteriology. She decided to continue her studies in Athens, and Dr. Fleming followed her. They were married in 1953. Friends of Fleming remarked that he was a new man after his marriage. Back in London, Fleming developed a cold, a few days later he died of a heart attack on March 11, 1955. He was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
video from the funeral of Alexander Fleming: www.britishpathe.com/video/funeral-of-sir-alexander-fleming
Fleming´s tomb at the east end of the Crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London
