Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
Dr Lloyd Higgs was a Rhodes Scholar, a Queen's Scout, an esteemed Rotarian and one of Canada's most respected astronomers. After receiving his D.Phil. degree from Oxford in 1961, he began his career in research with the Radio and Electrical Engineering Division of NRC in Ottawa where he worked until moving to Penticton. He was director of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton, BC, where he worked on such specialized interests as planetary nebulae and supernova remnants, recombination lines in the radio spectrum, and the development of software for data reduction. Dr. Higgs joined the RASC shortly after moving to Ottawa and took an active part in a number of capacities, including a term as Centre president 1971-72. Always an enthusiastic supporter of the RASC, he contributed many scientific papers and reviews to the Society's publications and edited the Journal with care and skill from 1976 to 1980.
Tom grew up in Portland, Ore., and graduated from Lincoln High School. He majored in mathematics at Princeton and went on to Harvard Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude and served as an officer on the Harvard Law Review. It was at Harvard that he met Carol Frank, his future wife. Tom spent two years after law school on a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford, receiving a D.Phil. in law. On his return, he served as law clerk to Justice John M. Harlan on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1973 Tom joined the Natural Resources Defense Council as one of its founders. For the rest of his life, he worked to make the world a more habitable place. He initiated NRDC’s first international programs and directed its international work for almost two decades, forming partnerships with environmental organizations in other countries and leading NRDC’s efforts to restore the ozone layer and combat climate change. In later years, he served as a consultant on environmental policy issues for the United Nations and other organizations. His final law review article, published in 2020, advocated for a federal statute to authorize compensation for legally imposed segregation.
Mick was born in Bulawayo on 18th February 1940 and attended St George’s College
from 1949-57. He went on to the University College of Rhodesia & Nyasaland, and
graduated with a BA History (Hons). He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for his fine
mind and many well-rounded talents. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics
achieving his MA (Oxon) at St.Peter’s College, Oxford University from 1964-66. While
there he met his future wife Jacqueline and they headed for Canada together in 1966.
After teaching and coaching as Junior Housemaster at Shawnigan Lake Boys’ School
he returned home to Rhodesia with his wife and new son, Gavin, to teach at Umtali
Boys High School. Later as Head of the English Department at Oriel Boys School in
Salisbury, he guided new teachers with firm and gentle advice and instilled in them the
love of teaching.
In 1979 he pursued his long-held interest in the law. He completed his LLB at the
University of Western Ontario and practised as a Specialist in Family Law. Here he
created an educational and social group of lawyers - ‘The Cabal’. He was the linchpin of
this collegial group which wrestled regularly with the intricacies of family law.
After volunteering and travelling overseas with his wife for 2 years he returned to
practising family law in BC. Again, his talent for drawing people together and creating
dialogue led to the formation of many groups some of which continue to this day such
as the Kelowna Really Terrible Choir, the Awards committee of the Kelowna Film
Society, the Canada Day luncheon, and his Annual Christmas ‘Music & Munchies’
Celebration.
However, ‘The Filos’ is the group of which he was most proud. It is a gathering of retired
intelligentsia who discuss shared interests and debate issues of the day. It became the
mainstay of his intellectual and social life bringing as it did not only mental stimulation,
but deep friendship, which he valued and in which he participated until his death.
Mick will be remembered and missed by many for his gentlemanly demeanour, his
ingenuity, energy and sporting prowess, his generosity, inventiveness and kindness.
Prosser Gifford of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, was an accomplished scholar, author, educator, academic administrator, director of think tanks and centers of scholarship and inquiry, and sportsman.
Prosser graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1947, before going to Yale University to earn his undergraduate degree in 1951. He matriculated as a Rhodes Scholar at Merton in 1951, reading English. Returning to the United States in 1953, he completed a law degree at Harvard in 1956 and then went back to Yale to gain a PhD in History in 1964. While continuing at Yale as an assistant professor he taught undergraduates and graduates and wrote about African History.
Prosser served as the first Dean of the African History Faculty at Amherst College. During this tough time of civil rights, Vietnam war and Watergate activism on American campuses, Pross was an effective champion for coeducation, equal rights, and free speech. Prosser wrote later that his proudest achievements during his twelve-year tenure as Amherst Dean were leading the commission that resulted in College Trustees admitting women in 1974 and increasing the number of women faculty members from one when he arrived to twenty-six when he left.
In 1979 he became Deputy Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Over his eight years there he brought together hundreds of scholars from around the world to collaborate on research, writing, and discussion of national and world issues.
Prosser left the Wilson Center to become the Director of Scholarly Programs at the Library of Congress, a position created for him which he held for fifteen years until his retirement in 2005. He was the first director of the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress that brought together some of the world’s eminent thinkers and supervised the selection of the $1 million Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences.
Luke Melas-Kyriazi, will follow his grandfather’s early voyage across the Atlantic and then to Oxford, although Luke’s may be at least initially make the trip virtually. He begins the Michaelmas term as a 2020 Rhodes Scholar at Oxford this fall.
Gérin-Lajoie served as Steelworkers Quebec Director from 1965 to 1981 and Quebec Federation of Labour Vice-President from 1959 to 1981. His union activism began as a 19-year-old worker at Montreal Cottons in Valleyfield, Que. Gérin-Lajoie attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1948 and earned a PhD in economics from McGill University.
“He greatly helped to build and bring structure to our union, the labour movement and the world of work as a whole. He has left us an immense legacy,” said USW Quebec Director Dominic Lemieux.
“The Steelworkers union is extremely privileged to have been able to count on a man of such great skill and humanity over so many years,” Lemieux said.
For more than two decades, Gérin-Lajoie was the labour movement’s lead representative on a high-profile council that advised the Quebec government on labour relations policy. He contributed to legislation introduced by five different governments, including Quebec’s first meaningful labour laws, the creation of its labour board, implementation of a minimum wage law, anti-discrimination legislation, occupational health and safety legislation.
Karl Allen Lamb grew up in Pueblo, Colorado and went on to graduate from Yale in 1954. In 1958 he achieved his Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Karl was in the ROTC at Yale and became a Captain in the Army Reserves.
Dr. Lamb began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan from 1958-1963. From there he was invited to become one of the founding faculty members at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He enjoyed a successful and prolific career as a Professor of Political Science there. In 1985 he left UCSC to become the Academic Dean of the United States Naval Academy.
After serving as Dean from 1985-1989, he remained at the Academy, returning to his initial love of teaching until he retired in 1999.
Upon retirement, while a Professor Emeritus at USNA, Karl embraced full time writing. Having previously authored seven non-fiction political science texts and two dozen political science articles, Karl pursued his lifelong dream of writing a novel based on his father’s life in 1920’s Colorado.
Jaquelin Taylor Robertson, Architect and Passionate Urbanist has died at 87.
Jaquelin came to Oxford in 1955 to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Jaquelin was devoted to classical architecture and was equally committed to design that benefits city life and helped establish a New York agency to promote it.
Douglas was St. Bonaventure’s College 11th Rhodes Scholar (1940) and its oldest living ex- pupil. A highly respected scientist, Dr. Darcy’s entire professional career was spent at the Royal Cancer Research Institute in England where he made several important discoveries in cancer research. Though he spent all his adult life in England, he never lost his interest in, or his love for both Newfoundland and Labrador and St. Bonaventure’s College, which benefited from his generosity.
Larry Richard Grisham passed away peacefully at home May 4, 2020.
Larry attended the University of Texas, Austin, where he studied physics and worked part-time at the geology building. He often spent his free time hiking, caving, and going on adventures in Texas and Mexico. During his first two weeks of classes at UT, Larry met Jacqueline Criswell, his life partner and wife of over 40 years.
In 1971, Larry was named a Rhodes Scholar and he and Jacqueline moved to Oxford, so he could pursue his PhD in physics. They loved their time in Oxford and used Larry’s academic breaks to travel to the English Lake District, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, and Greece. Larry and Jacqueline particularly loved the Lake District, and wed there in a small ceremony in 1972.
After graduating from Oxford with high honors, Larry was offered and accepted a position at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. During his time, he worked on numerous international collaborations, including with India, Japan, France, and the UK. Upon his retirement from Princeton University, Larry was offered, and happily accepted, a position with the company Twinleaf, founded by, as he commonly said, “his two best graduate students.”