John Fuller became the inaugural hotel management professor at a UK university. He began his career as a Regent Palace Hotel kitchen apprentice, later served with the Royal Air Force catering division during the war, and eventually held the position of deputy command catering officer in the Far East. Among his achievements, John Fuller held several positions in British institutions, including Director of the Scottish Hotel School in Glasgow, Head of the Hotel Management Department at Battersea College of Technology, and Chief Cookery Examiner for the City and Guilds of London Institute. Additionally, he served as a hotel training advisor to various foreign governments, such as India (1956), Israel (1962), and Cyprus (1963).
In 1966, John Fuller was designated as the inaugural hotel management professor at Strathclyde University. He played a significant role in launching a three-year curriculum that culminated in the conferral of a BA degree. Professor Fuller has received numerous awards, such as the Cordon Culinaire from the Conseil Culinaire Francais de Grand Bretagne, the Order of the Golden Toque from the American Institute of Chefs, the Grand Officer of the Cercle Epicurien Mondial, and the Chevalier de la Chaine des Rotisseurs.
He finished his university teaching career as Head of the Department of Catering Management at Oxford Brookes University. Following his retirement in the 1970s, Professor John Fuller remained active in the industry, serving as a visiting professor at the University of Surrey, lecturing at Cornell University in New York, the University of Missouri in Columbia, and Ecole Hoteliere at Lausanne in Switzerland. He also authored multiple textbooks and functioned as a catering series editor for the British publisher Hutchinson. Recognising his contributions, Professor John Fuller was designated an Honorary Fellow of the City and Guilds of London in 1983.
