Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
Finn, together with his wife Rebecca, were much loved members of the Rhodes Scholar community, 2015-2018. We remember Finn for living and loving generously, enriching the lives of all of us who knew him. He died at home in New Zealand on Sunday 24 March and our thoughts are with Rebecca, his family and all his friends. Finn was a lawyer who had captained the New Zealand waterpolo team. At Oxford he rowed, played football, gained an MSc in Latin American Studies and fully engaged in the experience. He will be remembered for his warm smile, his skill at sport, his championing of mental illness awareness, his passionate caring for others and most loving partnership with his wife, all of which he generously shared with his fellow Scholars and Staff around Rhodes House. His life will be celebrated at 11am Saturday 30 March, St Joseph's Church, Takapuna (enter from 10 Dominion St). All welcome. Donations to the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation are welcome in lieu of flowers. His life will be celebrated simultaneously here at Rhodes House, from 9pm UK time, and also in the early days of Trinity Term (details to be confirmed).
Richard Newton Gardner served as the United States Ambassador to Spain and the United States Ambassador to Italy. He was a professor emeritus of law at Columbia Law School. Gardner graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. degree in Economics, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and as a Rhodes Scholar, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from Oxford University
Dr. Mohr, a retired Air Force Chief Flight Surgeon, served 32 years on active duty and 7 years as an Air Force civil service scientist. During his active duty career, he logged 1697.4 flying hours in 26 different aircraft types.
Dr. Mohr graduated from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree (Summa cum Laude) in biology and chemistry in June 1951. The doctor was awarded a two-year Rhodes Scholarship, subsequently extended for a third year. He graduated in July 1954 from Hertford College, University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (Oxon.) degree from the Honour School of Animal Physiology as well as completing the preclinical requirements for a medical degree.
In September, 1951, Dr. Mohr, traveling to Oxford on the Liberté ocean liner, met his future bride-to –be, Annabel Lee McArthur, on vacation with her mother. A whirlwind romance ensued resulting in Annabel returning to England in June 1953. While on holiday on the continent, the sweethearts toured Venice, Italy where, Dr. Mohr proposed marriage to the love of his life. She accepted and received her engagement ring while the couple floated down a Venice canal in a gondola.
After retirement, Dr. Mohr contributed his time to various community projects in San Antonio. He was a Past Chairman of the Brooks Heritage Foundation Board of Directors and a member of the Brooks Aerospace Foundation Board of Directors.
Bill studied Modern History at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and graduated in 1961.
Satish Keshav was an internationally renowned specialist in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
He won a scholarship to read Medicine at Witwatersrand (achieving distinction) and came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol in 1987. His DPhil was on Paneth cell biology, which remained an abiding passion and he became a gastroenterologist as a consequence.
He was Staines Medical Research Fellow at Exeter College 1989-92, Nuffield Medical Research Fellow at Corpus Christi 1992-96 and then Senior Lecturer at the Royal Free Hospital, London. Satish was an outstanding intellect, and a thoughtful clinician who was much loved by his patients. He was appointed as a Consultant in Oxford in 2007 and was Clinical Director from 2013 until his death.
His family, friends and colleagues wish to honour his memory and passion for clinical science by establishing a memorial fund to create the Satish Keshav Scholarship in Clinical Science.
Born in Chicago in 1922, he moved with his parents to Indianapolis in 1928. In his teens, Steve was active in the boy scouts and was chosen in 1937 as the outstanding Eagle Scout in Indianapolis. He attended high school at Park School, graduating in 1941. He had been Park School's tennis champion and captain of its basketball team. He started college in the fall of 1941, but WWII interrupted his college education while he served four years in the United States Marine Corps; from which he was discharged in 1946 with the rank of 1st Lt. In 1948 he graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD (the great books program). He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1948 and graduated two years later from Jesus College, Oxford University, England with honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. After Oxford he went to the Yale Law School, graduating in 1953. He then became a lawyer with the Justice Department in Washington D. C., where he worked on many important cases, including the first case in the Supreme Court outlawing segregation in public schools. In 1955 he returned to Indianapolis and joined the law firm of Baker & Daniels. During his career at Baker & Daniels he served at various times as head of its litigation group and chairman of its management committee. He was chief counsel in many nationally important cases, trying lawsuits and arguing appeals in both state and federal courts.
Steve retired in 1991 and never looked back. After his retirement he remained active in his community, serving on public boards and on private boards of directors. He received the ROSA award from the Carmel Rotary Club in 2018 and was able to finally celebrate a Cubs World Series Title in 2016!
George was an exceptional student at Williams College where he received a BA in American History and Literature in 1952. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Queens College, Oxford University in England where he received a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics in 1954. In 1954 George enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and served as a map compiler in West Germany during the Korean War. He subsequently developed a keen appreciation for cartography. In 1957 he began his lifelong career as a civil servant, firstly as a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State in Washington, DC. Before leaving for his first posting in Eritrea, he was introduced to the love of his life, Alice Wells. He proposed marriage on their second date and pushed along by his flooded basement, moved into her Georgetown townhouse. They were married for 56 years. Shortly after their daughter Sarah was born, they moved to Asmara, Eritrea, where their daughter Audrey was born. They were also posted to Milan, Italy and Nairobi, Kenya before they settled in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Their travels, often with their two daughters and subsequently with their families, and many friends, touched five continents, motivated by a love of adventure, cultural exploration, and ornithological pursuits.
Returning to Washington, DC. George continued to work for the State Department in African Affairs and on the Sinai Support Mission directing and writing about the U.S. peacekeeping mission in the Sinai desert from 1979-83. But he never forgot his calling to the environment. He worked for the UN, the OES, and UNEP, was involved in establishing International Tanker safety standards and response protocol to Ocean Dumping, and authored the Panama Canal Treaty's environmental commission. For a decade he worked for NOAA, coordinating and managing marine natural resource conservation and assessment, including Superfund emergency response to oil and chemical spills. He wrote the environmental-effects chapter on the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill report submitted to the President, and developed, coordinated, and strengthened environmental protective measures for offshore oil and gas lease sales.
Following his retirement, George found a new calling in his community of Chevy Chase, Maryland, serving on the Village Board from 1996-2006 and as Board President from 2005-06. He was also a member of the Tree Committee, and was a daily litter picker upper. He supported his wife's many interests; the Chevy Chase Historical Society, book groups, many parties, and travel adventures. While at home he loved perusing his large rare bird book collection. George and Alice spent their summers in Vermont, a welcome respite from Washington's heat. Their days were filled with dog walks and forays in search of wildflowers, ferns, and of course, birds. Their afternoons and evenings often found friends gathered on the porch, with George sitting in his favorite corner wicker perch.
Michael Bloom graduated from the University of Natal in 1967, obtained a Rhodes Scholarship in 1968 and read law at the University of Oxford from 1968 to 1970. Michael joined Fluxman’s Attorneys in 1974 and was appointed Fluxmans Director in 1977. His areas of expertise were commercial law, property law and estate planning.
George was Fellow and Praelector in Ancient History from 1949 to 1987 and thereafter an Emeritus Fellow at University College, Oxford. He held most of the offices of the College at some point in his lifelong association with Univ. To describe his life in such terms, however, does not do full justice to the respect and affection in which he was held throughout the College and by the students whom he taught, mentored and looked after over the course of more than forty years and with whom he stayed in close touch in his retirement.
Obit taken from University College’s website.