Obituaries

Ockert came up to Oxford in 1954. Since he retired in September 1991, Ockert has devoted himself to genealogy and local history. He published several papers in local genealogical journals and a book Die Van Schalkwyks van die Nieuweveld, (1997, revised 2003). In 2008, he received the Margaret Cairns Award of the Western Cape branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. He was Vice Chairman of Die Stellenbosse Heemkring for a number of years and also published two CDs with historical documentation of the Stellenbosch Dutch Reformed Congregation (established in 1686). Ockert was elected as honorary member of the Heemkring in 2011.

Benjamin Rabinowitz obtained a B.A. (with distinction) from UCT, was awarded a SACS Rhodes Scholarship and went up to Oxford, receiving his MA Law there. He had been semi-retired from the property industry since 2005. He loved music and supported many cultural, educational and other charitable institutions. He initiated the successful campaign to save Oudekraal from property development, helped save Princess Vlei and led the campaign by SEAFA to save the Sea Point beachfront for the community. He received the Mayor’s Medal for Philanthropy, the Inyathelo Award for Lifetime Philanthropy, the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of Sea Point and the Spectemur Agendo Award from SACS and in 2013, the UCT President of Convocation Medal. He was also on the board of the Cape Town Concert Series, Croxton, LEAP Science & Maths School, Musiquelaine SA and the Cape Jewish Seniors Association and a trustee of the Ben and Shirley Rabinowitz Cricket Trust.

We are saddened to hear of Richard's passing. He came to Oxford in 1966 to study Politics. A service was held in his memory on 19 May 2023 in Clarksburg, Maryland.

We are terribly saddened to let you know of the death of Professor Derek Allen, Trinity’s long-serving Dean of Arts & Vice-Provost and Honorary Fellow, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. We are all reeling from the sudden loss of someone so important to the Trinity community.

For 60 years, Derek was at the heart of the Trinity community — first, as an outstanding undergraduate student and alumnus (Class of 1969), and then as a professor and as a key college administrator. He was a highly respected philosopher (and wickedly intelligent about most everything!), and a consummate academic administrator.

But Derek was so much more than this. He was a wonderful role model, kind human being and friend to so many in our community. In his quiet but resolute ways, he enriched the students’ academic experience and always put students first. He was unfailingly wise and generous as a colleague and mentor, both at Trinity and in the wider University of Toronto community. And as a long-time donor and a prominent member of the Salterrae Society, Derek was always a leader in encouraging support for the College so that the unique Trinity experience could extend to future generations. Even long after his “retirement,” Derek continued to play a crucial role at the college, teaching in the programs, supporting various committees and, in ways too numerous to list, making Trinity a better place.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions, in 2019, Derek received the highest honour that Trinity College bestows upon an individual — an Honorary Fellowship. As the citation said, the fellowship was in recognition of his long and distinguished career as an esteemed academic leader, a respected colleague, and a generous mentor to students at both Trinity College and the University of Toronto.

Professor John Duncan, who worked closely with Derek at Trinity for 15 years, shares this reflection:

“Derek was an incredibly kind-hearted person — fundamentally gracious and supportive of all those around him. Derek had a deep and abiding love for the academic mission. Trinity was his academic home for more than six decades. From his student days to a 16-year term as Dean of Arts and Vice-Provost, his love for the college, its people and its programs of study was always evident. He believed in higher education, and he worked tirelessly to make it the best it could be at Trinity. Derek was an incredibly sharp and clear thinker, writer and speaker, and a master of organization. In some ways, he was unassuming, and yet his presence was always felt because he was genuinely supportive of others. And because he was an academic, he made a huge difference in the lives of students, staff and faculty over the many decades of his career. He cared for each of us, and we are better because of him. He was and is widely loved and respected, and he will be sorely missed.”

Although many of you may already know about Derek’s contributions to Trinity, you may not be aware of his larger impact on academe — so I wanted to share these highlights from his biography:

Professor Emeritus Derek Allen, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto in 1969 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and History, a Rhodes Scholarship (Ontario), and a Governor General’s Medal for the highest standing in the Humanities in Trinity College’s graduating class. He earned two graduate degrees at the University of Oxford, including a D.Phil. in Philosophy. From 1996-2012, he served as Trinity’s Vice-Provost and Dean of Arts, and was responsible for the growth of the College’s excellent academic programs. He has received five teaching awards, including an Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations award for an outstanding contribution to university teaching and a 3M National Teaching Fellowship Award in recognition of teaching excellence and educational leadership. In 2013, he received the Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award for “a faculty member who has served the University of Toronto with distinction in multiple leadership capacities in diverse spheres over many years.”

Trinity College has been profoundly shaped by Derek Allen and we will not be the same without him. He will be deeply missed.

Bob O'Neill came up to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1961 and was Chichele Professor of the History of War at All Souls College, Oxford from 1987 to 2001. He was the first Australian serving officer to be elected to a Rhodes Scholarship.

We are grateful for his long service to the Rhodes community through his role as a Trustee from 1995-2001.

Learn more about his life and work.

Professor Thompson was the former Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and served as a dean and professor at the Universities of Idaho and Hawaii. He also was the dean of the Haile Sellassie University School of Law in Ethiopia and co-founded the faculty of law at the University of Zambia. In addition, Professor Thompson has taught law in the Sudan, Zambia and Ethiopia, as well as U.S. law schools. Most recently, he was Acting Dean from January 2007 through August 2008 at the College of Law of Michigan State University.

Professor Thompson served full-time in Indonesia as Legal Education Advisor for the government from 1993 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2004. His research interests revolved primarily around lawyers, law, and social change in developing countries.

William Kent Megill, 82, of Ottawa, died April 10, 2023, surrounded by his family in the Ottawa General Hospital, of complications due to lung fibrosis.

Bill was born in Ottawa on November 26, 1940 to Maj Gen William J and Doris M Megill (née Kent). He attended the Collège Militaire Royal de St-Jean, Quebec, and graduated with a BSc in Maths and Physics from the Royal Military College in Kingston, in 1962. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study for an MA at Oxford University in the UK, where he read Russian and French. Later he would complete a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration at Laval University and a masters in Political Science at the University of Kansas.

He joined the armoured corps while at RMC, then served with distinction in three armoured regiments, first with the Fort Garry Horse, later with the 12e Régiment Blindé du Canada, and finally with the Lord Strathconas Horse (Royal Canadians) which he commanded. The highlight of his military career was arguably his appointment as Military Advisor to the Canadian delegation to the arms control negotiations in Vienna that ultimately led to the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

After retiring from the army, he began a new career as a land claims negotiator for the federal government, initially in coastal British Columbia and finally in the western Arctic. His love for language and culture served him well throughout the complex negotiations to find a balanced rearrangement of the social order and legal situation in the MacKenzie Delta in particular.

Alongside his long career in the public service, Bill also enjoyed serving the public in the communities where he lived. Whether it was coaching little league soccer, heading up the Quebec Council of Scouts Canada, chairing the board of the Aphasia Centre, rebuilding the Priory of Simon Peter for the Templars or collecting hockey equipment to send to youth in the arctic, Bill brought his passion and experience to the challenge of building community.

He was dedicated contributor to the St Matthews and Glebe communities. Here the pandemic brought an old talent back to the fore as he turned his early career experience as the voice of the 1967 Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo to bear on the challenge of reaching the congregation and community during the hard months of lockdown.

Bill is survived by his wife Deirdre Nicholds and sons William M Megill (Susanne) and John Megill, grandchildren Liam and Natalie, siblings Margaret (Peggy) Hudson (Peter) and Suse Megill. Bill was surrogate grandfather to Deirdres grandchildren, Harry and Bridget Phillips. He was preceded in death by his first wife Susie (née MacDonald), brother Jim (Heather), and sister Janie (David).

Passing of eminent Gold Coast neurologist, Professor John Corbett

One of the Gold Coast's most respected medical practitioners, Professor John Corbett, has died.

An eminent neurologist, Rhodes Scholar and founder of Corbett Neurophysiology Services, 82-year-old Professor Corbett served the Gold Coast for three decades in the fields of neurology, neurophysiology, and sleep medicine.  His passing closes a medical, scientific and business career that spanned more than 50 years in the UK, US and Australia.

Born in Brisbane in 1940, John Corbett excelled in his early studies becoming Dux of his primary school and a captain of Gregory Terrace. The recipient of an Open Scholarship to the University of Queensland, he graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.

In 1965, Professor Corbett was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and spent the next nine years at the University of Oxford, where he completed his PhD in Neurophysiology. He also became the inaugural BMA Research Fellow, an Oxford Don and published more than 50 articles in learned academic journals.

New opportunities tempted him away from Oxford and in 1973 he took up senior neurology appointments at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in the US.

Returning to Australia in 1974, he fulfilled a Senior Neurology role at the Royal Brisbane Hospital before launching his private neurology clinical practice in Sydney. His expertise proved invaluable in the medical arena and the law, culminating in more than 5,000 medico-legal reports and regular appearances as an expert witness. He was involved in placing the first ever CT machines in Australia into the North Shore Private Hospital and other locations.

In the 1980s, Professor Corbett decided to try his hand at business and industry.  To this end he worked in the field of mining of minerals – clay, tin and gold and he was an innovator in the development of ultrasonic engineering applications for piling, earthmoving, mining and mineral processing.  His next foray was Weapons Training Systems, involving high level contracts with the Australian Army and various international contracts, such as the USA Army.  He was regarded as the saviour of the Kemtron and Lomah groups.  Like everything he turned his mind to, he proved to be a successful businessman but he missed the challenges medicine had given him and ultimately, resumed his medical career. 

Professor Corbett launched Corbett Medical Services on the Gold Coast in 1994, operating out of the magnificent family home, Surrey House, in Southport. He was also a founding member of SNORE Australia, which became Australia’s largest provider of Level 1 sleep studies.

In 2000 John and Lorraine purchased a 156-acre botanical estate at Springbrook adjacent to the World Heritage Rain Forest and spent 22 years fulfilling his love of nature, he worked tirelessly on beautifying the land.  He could then be found on the weekends on a tractor plowing fields and planting tree farms.

He received the Australian Centenary Medal Award in 2001 for Distinguished Service in the Field of Medicine. In 2011, Epilepsy Queensland presented him with its Flame Award for his years of services and support.

In 2021, Professor Corbett was diagnosed with the terminal condition Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He is survived by his devoted wife Lorraine, much loved daughter Vanessa, son in law Sean, and grandchildren Brooke and Harrison.

A true gentleman of wisdom and compassion, who will be greatly missed by all who knew him

Touching tributes have been paid following the death of a “pioneering” professor and doctor dubbed the “grandfather of gastroenterology in South Yorkshire”.

Prof Karna Dev Bardhan OBE, known as Chandu, died peacefully on April 5 aged 82.

The Wickersley doctor was the first ever recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Society of Gastroenterology, which said it was “saddened” to hear of his passing, noting how he “inspired a generation of doctors both within South Yorkshire and way beyond”.

A Freeman of the Borough, Prof Bardhan was honoured as Rotherham Citizen of the Year in 2000 and awarded the OBE a year later.

The father of two and grandfather of three went on to set up a research unit and a family charity.

Born in India, he graduated from The Christian Medical College in Vellore, where he met his wife Gouri and was named an outstanding student of his year.

He came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1964 before going on to become a registrar in Sheffield.

Gouri came to the UK to study in 1969 and the couple met again, before marrying in 1972.

They moved to Rotherham after Prof Bardhan became a consultant physician with an interest in gastroenterology, aged just 32, at the former Doncaster Gate Hospital in 1973, later going on to work at Rotherham Hospital.

He was the first gastroenterologist in Rotherham — as his field was not regarded as a speciality at the time — and went on to set up a research unit which became an internationally-recognised centre of excellence for gastrointestinal diseases.

Gouri, who worked as a consultant in Doncaster, said Prof Bardhan had worked with pharmaceutical companies and run clinical trials which showed test drug cimetidine was effective in relieving symptoms and healing stomach ulcers.

The drug went on to be extensively used to treat miners and steelworkers affected by the condition.

Prof Bardhan used the financial income this produced to fund PhD, MD and MSC students.

The research unit later became The Bardhan Research and Education Trust, which had 54 students by the time Prof Bardhan retired in 2011.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals has also run The Bardhan Fellowship annual research prize for more than 20 years, and called Prof Bardhan the “grandfather of gastroenterology in South Yorkshire”, citing his “inspiration and guidance” for many of its own developments.

Post retirement, Prof Bardhan taught sessions on different clinical systems, enabling students to practise techniques and skills in a less pressured environment.

He also began his memoirs, working with his secretary Beverley Mason and writer Ray Hearne.

After he suffered a stroke last September, his wife teamed up with Beverley and Ray to produce the book, “An Improbable Journey in Medicine: A Story of Courage and Enterprise”, which was published by Amazon in March.

Gouri said: “Medicine meant a lot to him. He did what all the doctors tried to do, to treat the patient as a whole, not just a stomach or a colon as sometimes can happen.

“He was a pioneer in many, many ways but more importantly, he was kind, compassionate and he treated everybody equally.”

Rotherham Hospital chief executive Dr Richard Jenkins described Prof Bardhan as an “inspirational and dedicated consultant”, adding: “He will be greatly missed by many people.”