Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
Dennis Ronald Bouwer was awarded a bursary to study towards a BSc degree at Rhodes University. Whilst at Rhodes he represented Eastern Province at rugby. He was then awarded the Rhodes Scholarship to further his studies at Oxford University.
After he completed his studies at Oxford University, he was awarded the Rockefeller Bursary to Harvard University in the USA, where he graduated with an MBA and entered the business world. He later became President of the Los Angeles Financial Chartered Analysts.
David Michael Heilbron was a native of San Francisco and a graduate of Lowell High School, UC Berkeley (in English), Oxford University (in law, as a Rhodes Scholar), and Harvard Law School. He received all his degrees with first class honors. David made his legal career in the San Francisco firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, of which he became the managing partner in 1985. He appeared often in the US Court of Appeals and once in the Supreme Court of the US, and shared his expertise in appellate procedures in courses he gave at UC's Boalt Hall School of Law.
The adventure began in 1958, when awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to New College where he studied History. He then taught English in Switzerland and France, worked as a journalist with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and joined a travel company which took him all over the world before being appointed Paris Director of the South Africa Foundation, the voice of South African Business abroad. It was there that he met and married Marianne, who became his inseparable lifelong companion. His connection with South Africa meant frequent visits there and elsewhere in Africa. He also had substantial assignments in Brazil and Japan. After retirement, Desmond became a guest lecturer at the annual Summer School at the University of Cape Town where, for years, he entertained an informed and enthusiastic following. He was also invited to join several cruise lines to give lectures on destinations around the world and other subjects. His success as a lecturer relied not only on the depth of his knowledge and the variety of his subjects, which covered history, the arts and people, ranging from Louis Armstrong to Louis XIV, but at least as much on his personal charm and self effacing humour.
Shaun Johnson was a true inspiration to many generations of Rhodes Scholars and had played such a pivotal role in establishing the Rhodes Trust's very first partnership organisation, The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. He served as the Founding Executive Director from 2003 until 2019. Shaun was an influential author and journalist, his own story intertwined with that of South Africa's transition to democracy and his great friendship with Nelson Mandela. His first novel The Native Commissioner won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book in Africa. Shaun always had time for the Rhodes community - whether through formal roles such as serving as Chairman of the Rhodes Scholarships Southern Africa Advisory Committee or informally helping countless Scholars.
Shaun died of natural causes in the early hours of the morning at his home in Cape Town, at the age of 60. He leaves behind his wife Stefania Johnson and daughter Luna Johnson. The Mandela Rhodes Foundation’s CEO Judy Sikuza, who worked closely with Shaun, said: “What Shaun has built in the name of Madiba and for the benefit of the African people will reverberate through the ages. But beyond that, it was his generosity of spirit, humanity and genuine faith in creating a better world through our Scholars that will remain in our hearts. Thank you for your love and belief in us as Mandela Rhodes Scholars, and specifically for your personal guidance and mentorship to me during the many years we worked together. Hamba kahle my brother. May your soul rest in peace.” Written tributes to Shaun can be sent directly to Julia@mrf.org.za.
Jim graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1975 with a double major in computer science and mathematics. After being selected for the Rhodes Scholarship, he was due to attend Oxford University, where he initially planned to study mathematics and receive his PhD. However, he developed symptoms of severe Guillain Barre syndrome, requiring hospitalization for an extended period of time before leaving for Oxford.
This experience ignited his interest in medicine, and ultimately altered his career path and life course. He went on to study physiology at Oxford, after which he attended Mayo Medical School. He met his wife Christie while in medical school in Rochester, and graduated in 1982. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in 1985, followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Mayo.
Jim served as the department chair for the division of Infectious Diseases. Among his many career accolades as a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, he was most proud of being named Mayo Teacher of the Year and loved to teach future generations of physicians. He retired in December 2018 after a long and fulfilling career.
Lionel Opie was born in South Africa in 1933, and after attending school in Cape Town, he went on to the undertake his medical degree at the University of Cape Town where he obtained a 1st Class honours as well as the gold medal in his final year; his academic credentials evolving from an earlier stage of his career.
After his internship at Groote Schuur Hospital, he went to Oxford University where he continued his medical training undertaking house jobs at the Radcliffe Infirmary, in addition to obtaining a Wellcome Trust Fellowship to undertake research under the Nobel Laureate, Sir Hans Krebs. It was here that he obtained his PhD degree investigating myocardial metabolism.
Further clinical positions followed at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, the Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, and then to London to become a consultant in Medicine at the Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College where he continued as a Research Fellow under another Nobel Laureate, Sir Ernst Chain.
This very productive period covered the 1960’s and in the early 70’s he returned to his country of birth, South Africa, to take up the position as Director of the then named Medical Research Council Research Unit for Ischaemic Heart Disease at the University of Cape Town. His work revealed the metabolic derangements of carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism of the ischaemic heart and demonstrated how acute myocardial infarction induces acute adrenergic stimulation. This increases circulating free fatty acids, further damaging the function of the heart which in turn inhibits glucose uptake causing more injury. This concept has had significant clinical implications. The treatment of acute coronary syndromes with beta-blockers is now routine therapy worldwide and has saved numerous lives.
During the following two decades the name of Lionel Opie was synonymous with three items.
a creative investigator with an excellent research output,
international travel and awards—too many to mention—and,
what many of us agree on as arguably his greatest asset, and that is his ability to disseminate knowledge
by this we mean both in his own scientific writings (he has published in excess of 500 manuscripts) and in addition he has published 31 books on heart disease, including his now legendary books ‘Drugs for the Heart’ (now in its 9th edition) and ‘Heart Physiology’ (now in its 4th edition) to name but just two. For me personally (BJG), the opportunity to work with him on this book as a co-editor provided me with a great learning experience and Lionel Opie was masterful as an author and editor.
It is difficult to pick out the highlights of his career, as there are so many, but one particular and notable highlight was his formation, in 1970, of what was then called the ‘Study Group for Research in Heart Metabolism’, which as we all know has become the famous ‘International Society for Heart Research’. In addition, he was the founding editor of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, affectionally known as the ‘Yellow journal’ so you can see his contribution to cardiovascular medicine, as a whole, was huge.
Now to conclude on a more personal note. As we are aware political change occurred within South Africa in the early 1990s and in 1995, Lionel Opie and Derek Yellon set about cementing links between the University of Cape Town and University College London with the establishment of a second Hatter Institute for Cardiology at the University of Cape Town Medical School in Cape Town, initially with Lionel as its Director.
The 22nd ‘Cardiology, Diabetes & Nephrology at the Limits’ meeting is being held at the Royal College of Physcians on the 31st Oct -1st Nov 2020 and will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Lionel Opie.
Professor Opie has been an inspiration to all. His knowledge and his is contribution to cardiovascular research has been truly immense and we honour his decades of dedication to the understanding of cardiovascular disease in all its facets.
From a personal point of view, as a South African, Lionel was deeply humbled and honoured when he received the Order of Mapungubwe from President Thabo Mbeki; this being the highest award that the country can bestow on its citizens—a truly wonderful culmination to the great career of a great man. We will miss him deeply as a friend, colleague, and mentor.
Jim Gunton passed away in his home February 16, 2020. Jim retired in 2018 as Lehigh University’s “Joseph A. Waldschmitt Emeritus” Professor of Physics, having earlier served as the University’s Dean of Arts and Sciences. Jim began his career at Linfield College in 1954. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and attended Merton College at Oxford, where he developed a love for physics. He was a Fulbright Scholar, Danforth Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Fellow (honorary) and subsequently received in 1967 a PhD from Stanford University. Professor Gunton was a statistical physicist with research interests in the field of pattern formation in non-linear, non-equilibrium systems. He served on the faculty at Temple University and also visiting professor (including Kyoto University and the University of Geneva). Jim was also provost at Kenyon University.
Kenneth Keniston was born in Chicago. He enrolled in Harvard College, and later earned a Rhodes Scholarship to complete his D. Phil in social studies from Balliol College. Keniston taught at Harvard University and Yale University before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty in 1977, where he served as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development. Keniston and his wife Suzanne Berger both received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979.
James George was educated at Upper Canada College, and Trinity College of the University of Toronto (philosophy), and was a Rhodes Scholar. A strong pacifist, and President of the Student Christian Movement, he was led by the disasters of 1940 to enlist in the Navy, surviving a torpedoing and rising to Lt-Commander and naval historian. In 1945 he entered Canada’s Foreign Service to work for peace, with postings to Greece, United Nations, NATO and France, and ambassadorial postings to Sri Lanka; India & Nepal; and Iran & Kuwait.
After retiring in 1977, he co-founded and headed the Sadat Peace Foundation and the Threshold Foundation. His environmental work included key roles in the whaling moratorium (1980), stopping the Kuwait oil fires (1991), and the No Weapons in Space initiative.