Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
Wynne Milton Rigal died on 17 October at his home in Edmonton. Born on 28 April 1932 in Kimberley, South Africa, he grew up on the Tooch family ostrich farm in Oudsthoorn. After attending SACS school, where he played rugby and excelled at Track and Field, he completed his medical degree at the University of Cape Town. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford where he studied Physiology at Hartford College and earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1961.
He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Frances Alexandor in Ottawa in 1961; they moved to Edinburgh where he took up a clinical teaching position at the University of Edinburgh. He received a WHO grant for travel in the USA (1960) and a Council of Europe grant for work in Amsterdam and Vienna (1961). He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1961.
In 1968 they moved to Edmonton where he lived for 56 years. He practiced and taught Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Alberta until retirement age. After that he travelled Alberta in his beloved Dodge camper van running medical clinics and performing minor surgery at under-resourced rural hospitals. He was an active member of his synagogue, Beth Shalom; he served as President in the 1970s.
He will be remembered with love, gratitude and admiration by family, friends, colleagues, hunting, cycling and skiing buddies and, especially, his patients who he treated meticulously with affection and professionalism.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Liyanda Lekalake in October 2024. Liyanda came to Oxford in 1985 to study law. A memorial service for her was held on 18 October 2024 in Johannesburg.
We were saddened to hear that Dr David Natusch passed away peacefully in Cambridge, NZ on 9th October 2024, aged 84.
David was born in Hawkes Bay on the 1st of June 1940. He grew up on the farm, with his parents Molly and Roy, and brother Michael and sister Anna. As a boy, he attended Raukawa school before going to Lindisfarne College, where he was Head boy and Dux in 1958. He enjoyed cricket and athletics and went on to be awarded a University of Canterbury triple Blue.
David was Awarded a Charles Upham Scholarship to attend Canterbury University and he lived at College House. At Canterbury he was Vice president of the Student’s Association and received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science majoring in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
In 1963, David was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to undertake a DPhil in Physical Chemistry at the University of Oxford. While at Oxford, he was the British Government Representative to the Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Germany in 1964. David graduated from Oxford with a Doctor of Philosophy in 1966. His thesis is titled: On the Theory of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance”.
In 1970 David received a Fullbright Scholarship and moved to Illinois, in the USA, for what was meant to be a 1-year posting as a visiting professor to the university. Not long after moving, David was offered a full-time position and stayed for 5 years.
In 1975 David was appointed as Chancellor and Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University. In 1980, he accepted a position as a ‘Visiting Distinguished Professor’ at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. It was during this period as a University Professor that David was involved with a number of significant achievements. In 1976 his laboratory was consulted by the US Military to help them prolong the length of time a glow-stick could glow for. Along with many other scientists, David’s work on nuclear magnetic resonance formed the foundation for the invention of the MRI machine. While in Colorado, David’s laboratory was involved in the theory and design behind the nose module of one of the later NASA space shuttles, and he and his students were some of the first people to publish on the health concerns and environmental risks posed by the burning of certain fossil fuels.
In total, his time spent within the University systems saw him publish 105 scientific publications in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry and Alternative fuels Technology, 5 published books, and give 146 invited lectures. In 1981, David came back to New Zealand to be closer to family and became a Director for the Liquid Fuels Trust Board in Wellington – which was setup by the NZ government to make NZ independent of imported fuels during the 1980s oil shocks.
In 1992 David set up Resource Development Ltd and his life as a consultant began. David purchased all of NZ’s CNG stations after CNG was disbanded in New Zealand, He dismantled them, and exported them to Bolivia to establish the CNG industry over there. David also undertook Natural Gas Utilisation Planning in Papua New Guinea and in Vietnam, and worked for organisations like the UN, WHO, World Bank, and APEC.
David continued working until not long before he needed to move into care, working on projects in Bangladesh and for Tiffany & Co. Outside of his work-life David was also a Justice of the Peace, President of New Zealand Rhodes Scholars Association, and a marriage celebrant. In December 2022, David moved into Te Awa Lifecare, where he was fondly known as “The Professor”. He was described as a wonderfully intelligent and engaging friend by the staff there.
Kristoffer Kristofferson was a singer, songwriter, and actor. Born in Texas, Kris enrolled at Pomona College in California. In 1958, he arrived at Oxford for a degree in English Literature with ambitions to become a writer. While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs.
Kris joined the U.S. Army in 1960 following his graduation. He then worked as a helicopter pilot in Germany in the early 1960s, after which he left and moved to Nashville to chase his dream of becoming a country musician. He released his debut album Kristofferson in 1970.
Kris was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a more raw, introspective style. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. He was a three-time Grammy Award winner, with 13 nominations in total.
During the 1970s, he also embarked on a successful career as a Hollywood actor. He earned a Golden Globe for his performance in A Star is Born (1976), and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the film Songwriter (1984). He continued to remain active in both his music and acting career until announcing retirement in 2021, and his final performance was at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023.
Francis Fox PC KC (December 2, 1939 – September 24, 2024) was a Canadian politician who was a member of the Senate, Cabinet minister, and Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Fox was a lawyer by training.
He was elected as a Member of Parliament from 1972-1984, during which time he served as Solicitor General, Minister of Communications and Secretary of State.
He was appointed to the Senate in 2005, representing Victoria until his retirement in 2011.
We were very sad to learn this week of the passing of Eldon Zuill at his home in Scotland. Born in Smiths Parish in Bermuda, schooled at Saltus and Trinity College in Canada, he went on to be a Rhodes Scholar and arrived in Oxford in 1967 to study Zoology.
He loved his time in Oxford where he excelled at cricket and received his doctorate. He was very proud to be a part of Merton College, Rhodes House and Vincent’s Club and talked of these often.
Teaching was in his blood and he taught at schools in Scotland before moving to the Health Education Board for Scotland, from where he retired in 2013. Eldon will be missed by many on both sides of the Atlantic for his big smile, friendly nature and willingness to share opinions and stories with everyone he met.
Rex D. Adams passed away on September 1, 2024, at the age of 84. He died peacefully at home in Fearrington Village, NC.
A Trustee Emeritus of Duke University and Dean Emeritus of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke, Rex also served as chairman of the board of both Invesco and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), after a 31-year career at Mobil Corporation. Rex was a respected and admired figure in many people’s lives, and a revered and deeply loved husband, father, and grandfather.
We are saddened to hear of the passing of Robert Warren. After studying Modern History at Oxford, he had a distinguished legal career in Canada. He leaves his wife, Catherine Powell-Warren, daughter Hadley and brother John.
We were saddened to learn Paul Sheats died in Los Angeles on August 23, 2024, at the age of 92.
He was born June 17, 1932, in Albany, New York, to Paul Henry Sheats and Dorothea Burns. Paul H. Sheats would later serve as a UCLA professor and was the final dean of University Extension to oversee the program when it was statewide. The younger Sheats moved several times during his childhood — living in Ohio, Connecticut, Maryland and Florida.
After earning bachelor’s degrees in biology, in 1954 from Harvard College — where he also ran track — and in English, in 1957 from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Sheats taught English at Haverford College, from 1958 to 1960. He returned to Harvard for his master’s (1963) and doctorate (1966), both in English. Paul specialized in English Romantic poetry, particularly the works of Keats and Wordsworth, and he published fresh editions of their poems. His major scholarly contribution was his book from Harvard University Press on Wordsworth’s early work, The Making of Wordsworth’s Poetry, 1785-1798. He was also much invested in that poet’s great posthumous poem, The Prelude, especially its environmental concerns.
Sheats joined UCLA as an assistant professor of English in 1966, eventually reaching the rank of full professor in 1978, when he also began a five-year term as English department chair. He wrote introductions for new editions of poetry collections by both Wordsworth (1982) and John Keats (1975), both published by Houghton-Mifflin.
He was a great outdoorsman himself, and much dedicated to studying the life and achievements of John Muir. Paul served as Chair of the English Department from 1978 to 1983, and, after his retirement, he was President of the UCLA Emeriti Association. He was married to Barbara Packer, also a Professor in the English Department, and after her death in 2010 he established an annual lecture series in her honor.
Read full obituary here.