Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
David Brink obtained a BSc from the University of Tasmania in 1951, and then moved to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. His DPhil, 'Some Aspects of the Interactions of Fields with Matter' was awarded in 1955. David was a Royal Society Rutherford Scholar from 1954-1958 and during this period he spent a year at MIT. He was appointed Fellow of Balliol College and Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at Oxford in 1958.
David was a nuclear theorist who contributed very significantly to our understanding of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions. His book Angular Momentum is a classic introduction to the topic.
David was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1981. He was awarded the Rutherford medal of the Institute of Physics and the Lise Meitner prize for nuclear science of the European Physical Society, and was honoured as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Uppsala. At Oxford he held the position of H.J.G. Mosley Reader between 1988 and 1993. After Oxford, David moved to Trento where he was Vice-Director of ECT, the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics, and Professor of the History of Physics at the Universita degli Studi di Trento.
Robert “Buzz” Baldwin, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, died March 6 in Portola Valley, California at the age of 93.
On obtaining a bachelor’s of arts degree in chemistry in 1950 at the University of Wisconsin, Baldwin studied biochemistry at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, receiving his D.Phil. degree (the British equivalent of a PhD) in 1954.
Baldwin devoted his career to studying how proteins, which begin life as linear chains of chemical building blocks, quickly assume their characteristic highly complex, functional structures. His research sped a shift in many biologists’ attention from organismic biology, the study of creatures great and small, to molecular biology, which focuses on the individual biochemical reactions that underpin all living processes and on the molecules — usually proteins — responsible for catalyzing those reactions.
You can see a full obituary for Buzz here.
Schindler originally studied engineering physics, but inspired by Charles Elton's seminal work on invasive biology, he transferred into the zoology program at North Dakota State University. He then went on to study under Elton at Oxford University, where he graduated with his doctorate in 1968 as a Rhodes Scholar.
Schindler's 1970s and early '80s landmark experiments sounded the alarm on acid rain and led the Canadian federal government to ban high-phosphorus laundry detergents. His 2010 research into Alberta's oilsands pushed the government to establish independent oversight of the industry, after he showed it was contributing contaminants to the region's watershed.
A skilled public communicator, Schindler is a recipient of the Order of Canada and numerous scientific awards, including the inaugural Stockholm Water Prize.
Christopher Heywood studied English, Afrikaans, French and Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. As a Rhodes Scholar, he obtained a BA in English Language and Literature at New College, Oxford. His research interests included Anglo-French literary relations and African/South African literature.
Christopher was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Literature at the University of Sheffield, Professor of English at the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and at Okayama University in Japan.
Christopher loved music and played violin in several orchestras. He also enjoyed painting and travelling in his free time.
Ambassador W. Richard Jacobs, who contributed to significant social change in the Caribbean and Africa, died in Kingston, Jamaica on February 11, 2021. He was the first person of colour to attend the Collegiate School for Boys in Manhattan, the oldest educational institution in the United States. He excelled there as a student, actor and athlete. He served as captain of the basketball team and co-captain of the football team.
He attended Colby College in Maine for his freshman year, then transferred to warmer climes at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica in 1963. There, he excelled in both scholarship and student leadership and was elected in 1966 as President of the Guild of Undergraduates. In 1968 he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to attend Oxford University in the United Kingdom (UK). While there, he married June Powell of Mandeville, Jamaica. They had two daughters, Olayinka and Nasolo.
As part of his Rhodes Scholarship studies, Ambassador Jacobs went to Zambia, where he conducted research on the trade union movement in Africa. He returned to Trinidad-Tobago in the mid-seventies, where he lectured for 10 years at UWI, St. Augustine. Ambassador Jacobs compiled an extensive body of scholarship throughout his life. He was the author of numerous books and articles addressing social and political issues in the Caribbean and Africa.
David Calder studied Law at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He went on to work at Birkbeck Montagu's & Co as a Solicitor.
A professor of physics, astronomy and electrical engineering at USC for nearly 50 years, Robert W. Hellwarth was a laser innovator and a beloved mentor.
Hellwarth was offered a scholarship to Princeton University, where he was valedictorian of his class, earning a dual undergraduate degree in physics and electrical engineering in 1952. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and spent the next three years at the University of Oxford, earning his doctorate in physics in 1955 and becoming a lifelong Anglophile.
A fellow of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Optical Society of America (OSA), Hellwarth was also the recipient of the OSA’s Charles Hard Townes Award.
Hellwarth wrote or co-authored more than 200 papers and articles, the last published in 2018, shortly before his 88th birthday.
Bob frequently returned to Oxford over the years, during which he'd meet with colleagues dating back to his Rhodes years, make recurring appearances at the Clarendon Laboratory, and popping in for tea at St. John's.
Read more from USC Dornsife and the LA Times. Read Ben Hellwarth's Obituary for his father, Robert.
Graham Boustred was the deputy chair of the Anglo American Corporation in the 1980s and '90s. Boustred joined the South African Navy in 1943 and after the war he went and studied Chemistry at Trinity.
Jon Westling graduated from Reed College in Oregon. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1964 and studied history at St. John’s College, Oxford University.
Westling’s career at Boston University spanned 46 years and included several top leadership posts, although his most lasting avocation was teaching students about the history of Europe. He came to the University in 1974 to work on a project to produce films for the US Bicentennial. While that project never materialized, John Silber (Hon.’95), then BU president, took notice of the 32-year-old and drew him into his administration. He was named provost in 1984, and later became executive vice president. Westling (Hon.’03) served as president of the University from 1996 to 2002.
Westling was proud of his activities as a Freedom Rider, including participation in a sit-in in southern Virginia in 1963.