Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
It is with sadness that we have received news of Dr Graham Windrum's passing.
Born in Brisbane in 1928, he was educated at the Church of England Grammar School in East Brisbane. Graham graduated with a Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Queensland in 1951, following which he was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. He arrived at Oxford in 1951 to read for his DPhil in Clinical Medicine.
In 1954, Graham joined the Central Middlesex Hospital as a physician, then moving on to Whittington Hospital in London as a surgeon the following year. He returned to Brisbane in 1956 and joined the Brisbane General Hospital as a senior pathologist, briefly working at the Prince of Wales Hospital before opening his private practice in Sydney, in 1960. Graham was a foundation member of the College of Pathologists of Australia, incorporated in 1956.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Tony Wallace in Brighton at the age of 78. Tony arrived at Oxford to study at Balliol College in 1969.
It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Barry May, who died in Cape Town on 30 November 2024 shortly after his 80th birthday. Whilst at Oxford in the 60's and 70's, Barry studied a BPhil in Management Studies, captained the Oxford cricket first XI for two years and also held a blue for hockey. He leaves behind his wife, Mary, his two sons and 6 grandchildren.
With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of Munir Attaullah, a remarkable intellectual, writer, journalist, athlete and beloved figure in Pakistan’s social and cultural landscape. With achievements across diverse fields and an inimitable ‘malang’ style, he lives on in the hearts of family, friends, and ‘fritterers’ across the globe.
Munir showed exceptional intelligence from an early age. At sixteen, he appeared for his Senior Cambridge exam and secured five distinctions, the highest score in South Asia. At Government College (GC) Lahore, he studied Physics with Mathematics, two subjects he enjoyed throughout his life. Munir chose to pursue law professionally following graduation. In 1960, he was awarded the coveted Rhodes Scholarship and read law at Balliol College, Oxford. He returned to Pakistan briefly to work as a lawyer, and moved back to London shortly after. It set the trajectory for an unusual career and life.
Following a brief stint working at IBM, he became a professional bridge player and represented Pakistan in international tournaments. In 1981, the Pakistan team surprised the world by reaching the final of the prestigious Bermuda Bowl. His contributions to the game were honoured with a bridge convention named after him. While he continued to play bridge into his 60s, he found two new hobbies that morphed into professional successes in his 50s: golf and journalism. Accolades and prizes, including the 2nd prize in the Bastiat Prize for Journalism in 2004, rolled in. Some of his best articles were compiled into a book.
Where others would have played it safe and stayed at IBM for financial security and social legitimacy, Munir chose to do his own thing. He had a surety about existence, its meaning or lack thereof, to lead a different kind of life. Munir is survived by his wife, Farida, and son, Zulfi, and many friends and admirers who will remember his legacy.
Read full obituary here.
It is with profound sadness that we announce that David Evans, late of Paddington, passed away peacefully at 90 years of age.
David arrived at Oxford in 1957 as a Rhodes Scholar, and went on to have a life of extraordinary public service as an Australian diplomat from 1959 to 1998, including the United Nations in New York City, Counsellor in Yugoslavia and First Assistant Secretary for Europe, Americas and New Zealand, 1980. David also served as Australian High Commissioner to Ghana and Malaysia, and Ambassador to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and Mongolia, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Born in Adelaide, Peter was a 1963 Rhodes Scholar, Professor in Biotechnology at the University of New South Wales, consultant to the United Nations and international aid agencies, and an expert in applying biotechnology to renewable energy and sustainable development.
Peter will be long remembered and greatly missed - a devoted and cherished husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and cousin; a gentle man of wisdom and peace; a gifted scholar and teacher; a talented sportsman; a loyal friend.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Pradeep Mitra on 9 November 2024, at the age of 77. Pradeep joined Oxford in 1968 to study Economics. He served as Chief Economist at the World Bank from 2002 until 2011, and published widely in public economics and development economics throughout his career.
A funeral service was held for him on 10 November 2024 in Woodbine, Maryland.
Jack was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Jackson C. Stromberg Sr. and Jeanette Stromberg. The combination of their father's work ethic and mother's love of learning were instilled in Jack and his siblings at an early age. In high school, Jack became a ribbon-winning calf-roper, captain of his football team, long-jump record holder, and class valedictorian. After what he remembered as his "idyllic" childhood, Jack left New Mexico to attend Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
At Dartmouth, Jack majored in philosophy, competed on the track team, skied alongside the Dartmouth Ski Team, and proudly belonged to Casque and Gauntlet, a senior society devoted to the "fellowship of men." He was active in the rich intellectual life at Dartmouth and made many lifelong friends at his beloved "college on the hill."
After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth, Jack was selected to become a Rhodes Scholar. He studied philosophy at the University of Oxford in England where he met his soon-to-be-wife, Elizabeth Hoem. After Oxford and their wedding in Norway, Jack and Elizabeth moved to the U.S. where Jack attended Stanford Law School, eventually becoming an editor of the Stanford Law Review. After Jack graduated from Stanford in 1963, he became a corporate lawyer at Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges in San Francisco. He, Elizabeth, and their new baby daughter moved to Mill Valley where they put down roots and would remain for the rest of their lives.
Jack soon rose to become a partner at Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges, where he specialized in corporate and securities law. He was recruited by Bechtel Enterprises, Inc. to become their Assistant General Counsel, where his career swiftly progressed. He eventually retired as Managing Director and Executive Vice President. Jack also served on the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, and was a member of the San Francisco Committee on Foreign Relations, the Board of Directors of the British American Chamber of Commerce, the Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the Board of Directors of J.P. Morgan Securities Asia, Ltd.
Beyond his illustrious career, Jack was also an adventurer. He traveled to nearly every continent and was an avid skier; he only stopped skiing in his late '70s on his doctor's advice. Jack also loved golf. He loved the camaraderie and sportsmanship that golf brought into his life, especially after retirement from Bechtel. Jack Stromberg will be remembered for his devotion to family and friends, consistent enthusiasm and optimism in life, and insatiable curiosity, all anchored in a value system that guided his everyday actions. He was a friend to many, a role model to all, and an example of a life well-lived.
Read full obituary here.
We were saddened to hear that David Vere-Jones passed away on 31 October 2024 aged 88 years. The world of statistics, and the New Zealand mathematical and statistical communities, in particular, have lost a great and influential leader. In the words of a Maori saying, a mighty totara has fallen in the forest of Tane.
Born in London in 1936, David attended Cheadle Hulme School, near Manchester, until the age of 12 when his family emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand. It was here that he developed his interest in mathematics, which then formed the centre of his undergraduate programme at the VUW.
Following the completion of his MSc in 1958, David won a Rhodes Scholarship to take up postgraduate study in probability theory with David Kendall at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College). His thesis topic on the geometric ergodicity of denumerable Markov chains led to the first of his significant publications (now well in excess of 150). Life at Oxford was stressful and demanding, and there were times when acting and the theatre (a consuming interest begun in his undergraduate years) became a strong contender for a preferred career. Such feelings were exacerbated by the loneliness and challenge of being a postgraduate mathematician, coupled perhaps with being such a long way from home.
In 1961, after completing his DPhil, David was accepted into a 1-year postdoctoral exchange programme with the Soviet Union. He worked on queueing theory at Moscow University with Boris Gnedenko, whose friendship, collegiality, and warm Russian hospitality made an indelible impression on David. In 1962, David returned to New Zealand and the DSIR Applied Mathematics Laboratory. At the outset, he was involved in a descriptive study of New Zealand earthquakes. This was the beginning of his lifelong interest in statistical seismology with his first paper on the subject published in 1964.
David’s breadth of scholarship and achievement in the service of mathematics and statistics was remarkable. He made fundamental contributions to the theory of Markov and point processes, was a founding father of statistical seismology, and a founder of the International Association for Statistical Education. He helped set up the New Zealand Mathematical Society and was a president of the New Zealand Statistical Association. He had a profound influence on the New Zealand secondary school mathematics and statistics syllabus with innovations that were emulated by other countries. David was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1982, awarded the Henri Willem Methorst Medal from the International Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1995, and was awarded the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s highest scientific honour, in 1999.
David retired from VUW in 2000 as professor emeritus. He remained an active researcher, and in 2014, the Royal Society of New Zealand awarded David the prestigious Jones Medal in recognition of his lifetime achievements in statistics. Many individuals, groups and organizations have benefited enormously from David’s wise guidance and inspirational leadership. They have frequently turned to him for advice and help—none found him wanting. The hallmarks of David Vere-Jones include his vision, infectious energy and enthusiasm, and, above all, his warmth and compassion for others of all persuasions and all walks of life. He will be missed by many all around the world, but particularly in New Zealand where the statistical and mathematical communities are immeasurably richer for his prodigious contributions and the poorer for his departure.
Read full obituary here.