Obituaries

One of Australia's leading public intellectuals, Professor Stretton was a social reformer. After his Rhodes Scholarship he was appointed as a tutor in modern history at Balliol College before joining the University of Adelaide to become professor of history. He was 30, the youngest professor in an Australian university. His 1974 Boyer Lectures, Housing and Government, argued the virtues of a mixed private and public housing system. Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment (1976) analysed the possibilities for democratic socialist reform in capitalist democracies. Urban Planning in Rich and Poor Countries (1978) considered urban planning worldwide. As deputy chairman of the South Australian Housing Trust, Professor Stretton saw many of his ideas put into practice.

After graduating from Hendrix College, Mr Warren studied philosophy at Columbia University in New York and was then awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. On completion of his Masters degree at Oxford University, he did doctoral work at the University of Nuremburg and then began a long and career as a writer and adventurer, travelling extensively throughout the world. He had a strong scholarly interest in philosophy and history.

At Oxford, McNeill played basketball for an unofficial team he started.

While in the United Kingdom, he worked for the Daily Mail. After returning home to Canada, McNeill began working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was the CBC's correspondent in Washington, D.C. and worked for Newsmagazine. He reported on the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the Iranian Revolution for the CBC. McNeill later moved to the United States, where he worked for CBS News until 1987. He was the CBS News correspondent in Moscow. He later worked for Christian Science Monitor Television.

He got a Rhodes Scholarship in 1958 and a Nieman Fellowship in 1981. In 1984, he won the George Polk Award for Network Television Reporting for his "unusual glimpses of Soviet life". He was nominated for the 1988 News & Documentary Emmy Award for "Outstanding Interview/Interviewers - For Programs" as a producer and correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor Reports. He won the 1990 News and Documentary Emmy Award for "Outstanding Informational, Cultural or Historical Programming (segments)" as a correspondent of a World Monitor segment on the Soviet Union.

He was a journalism teacher at Boston University.

Oxford Rugby and Boxing blue, and also played rugby for Wales. Later worked in commercial development and web marketing.

Spent his professional life as a Professor of chemistry, exploring and perfecting the delivery of scientific education to college students in a career that spanned the globe. Born in Seattle, he spent his early years on Bainbridge Island and graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1939 before attending Stanford University as an undergraduate. Professor Haight worked on the Manhattan Project during the war as part of his PhD research. His avowed interest in chemistry originated in order to avoid becoming a teacher, which he ironically dedicated his life to after discovering a knack for tutoring his fellow college students. His teaching and research assignments took him to Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Swarthmore, College Station, Cophenhagen, San Diego, Canberra, Australia, and Kaula Lumpur.

Earned a BA from UC Berkeley and after his Rhodes Scholarship Professor Richards returned there for his graduate studies, earning a PhD in 1955. He was a professor of organic chemistry and biochemistry at Caltech whose research was focused on gaining a molecular understanding of the mechanisms of protein function. Professor Richards used altered proteins obtained from the deliberate mutation of DNA—a process called site-directed mutagenesis—in combination with recombinant and cloning techniques, to study the mechanisms by which proteins act as catalysts to perform the chemical reactions necessary to life.

Professor in the Slavic Languages Department at the University of Washington for over 35 years, with a focus on medieval Russian literature and folklore whilst also teaching 19th century Russian literature and Russian language. He served as the department Chair twice and as Director of the University's Honors Program. He was also active in the Rhodes Scholar selection process. In 2001, he was named a Supernumerary Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford in recognition of his contributions to scholarship. He was prolific in retirement, devoting his academic pursuits to translation and commentary on the Russian folktale. His acclaimed seven-volume The Complete Russian Folktale was finished in 2006, followed by his translation of several notable works including the Long, Long Tales From The Russian North.

Read for an MSt in European Literature and his DPhil whilst at Oxford and subsequently worked as a Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Cape Town, and as the convenor for postgraduate studies in the Department. His research interests centered on the novel form – his doctorate work was concerned with George Eliot, Joseph Conrad and Olive Schreiner – and the historical development of novelistic fiction in South Africa. He tragically lost his long battle with cancer. An obituary written by Jacobus Cilliers (Diocesan College, Rondebosch & Balliol 2008) can be read here.

President of the Australian Academy of Science 1978-82, Dr Evans was a highly distinguished plant scientist whose research has focused on the physiology of flowering. After completing a DPhil at Oxford, he worked at the California Institute of Technology before becoming a research scientist at the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. During his time there he was the biologist in charge of the establishment of CERES, the controlled environment research facility known as the phytotron. He was Chief of the Division from 1971 to 1978. Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1971, he served as its president from 1978 to 1982. He was the author of numerous published papers and reviews, mainly in the field of plant physiology, and wrote several books, several of which became standard textbooks.