Obituaries

Peggy was an Accountant at Rhodes House during Warden Robin Fletcher’s time, 1981-9. In recent years, Peggy shared the following with us: “We were always very busy. Approximately 170 Scholars were on stipend each year and since I had an office to myself they soon found I was a confidante to all comers. As to the extent of my experience at Rhodes House, I can only say I have never worked so hard, laughed so much and enjoyed any job more.”

Herman was a lawyer who practiced more than 40 years as partner at Capell Howard Knabe and Cobbs, PA. He was active in the early civil rights cases involving the City of Montgomery, including the Rosa Parks and Tuskegee Syphilis Cases. In addition to his corporate law work, he helped establish the Alabama Medicaid Agency which extended healthcare to the elderly and disabled; there he served as General Counsel and played a pivotal role in landmark cases involving Medicaid entitlement and reimbursement.

Bob Hawke was Australia’s longest-serving Labour Prime Minister, and a charismatic and dearly-loved political leader.  He was highly respected on all sides of government, as the recent tide of tributes demonstrates.  Bob was an economic and social reformer whose consensus-focused leadership paved the way for economic modernisation, environmental protection, alliances with Asia and improved relations with Indigenous Australians.

In addition to his successful time as Prime Minister, he was a great supporter of the Rhodes community in Australia.  He was an active participant in RSA National, especially in the organisation’s early years.  He was the keynote speaker at the 2015 RSA dinner in Melbourne, he attended the 2014 dinner at which Prime Minister Tony Abbott (New South Wales & Queen’s 1981) spoke, and the 2016 dinner Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (New South Wales & Brasenose 1978) addressed. Bob was always interested in meeting the Scholars-Elect at these annual gatherings, and visiting with Scholar friends from all generations.

Bob’s tireless efforts, drive and ambition to change Australia for the better were life-long pursuits.  He certainly saw himself as ‘fighting the world’s fight’ - and few would disagree he did just that. The Rhodes community will miss Bob greatly.

Richard was the longest-serving senator in Indiana, USA (1977 – 2013) and an authoritative voice on American foreign policy. During his Rhodes Scholarship he read for an MA Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1956. Afterwards he joined the U.S Navy and was eventually assigned to the Pentagon as intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke, chief of naval operations. His political career in Indiana began when he was elected mayor of Indianapolis aged 35 in 1967, serving two terms before his became a Senator in 1977. Whilst in office, he championed efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, remove Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos and secure the former Soviet Union’s weapons of mass destruction. He twice chaired the Foreign Relations Committee (1986 – 1987; 2003-2007) and ran for president in 1996. After leaving the Senate, he established The Lugar Centre to create the Bipartisan Index – a ranking of members of Congress by how often the co-sponsor legislation with members of the other party. Moreover, the Centre is a leading platform for an informed debate on global issues. Richard was a widely respected politician and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. He passed away at a Medical Centre IN Falls Church, VA. He was 87.

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).

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.

Girish Karnad graduated with a BA in Maths and Statistics from Karnatak University, then went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar to study for an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1962. He worked at Oxford University Press in Madras (now Chennai) until 1970. In 1989 he and his family settled in Bengaluru (the capital of Karnataka, formerly Bangalore). India’s foremost playwright, as well as a successful film director and popular actor, Girish Karnad also wrote plays in the Indian language of Kannada. Many of his plays were translated into English by Oxford University Press as well as into several other Indian languages. Karnad served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974-75), and chair of Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Performing Arts (1988-93). From 2000 to 2003, he was director of the Nehru Centre, the cultural wing of the high commission of India, in London. He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.

For four decades Karnad composed plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues, and his writings marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada.

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.

A Rhodes Scholar who received his first of two law degrees while at Oxford, Chuck Lister joined the law firm Covington & Burling in 1970 after clerking for Justice Harlan and teaching at Yale Law School.  In 1988, he moved from Washington to the London office and served as Managing Partner there for several years. Widely regarded as one of the firm's most brilliant lawyers and gifted writers, he handled a broad range of litigation and arbitration matters, ranging from antitrust trial work in the States to appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice.