Obituaries

Jim Redmond obtained his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from the University of Alberta, where he was gold medalist in his law class and was the recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship.

Jim practiced law for 60 years. He was one of Canada'a leading trial lawyers and an international arbitrator. He mentored countless young lawyers, served as a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta, and as a lecturer at the University of Alberta. Jim was a lifelong student of the law, attending legal conferences, seminars and courses around the world into his eighties. 

Jim loved and supported the Edmonton Arts including the Symphony, Opera, Citadel and the local jazz scene.

Read more. 

Graham Boustred was the deputy chair of the Anglo American Corporation in the 1980s and '90s. Boustred joined the South African Navy in 1943 and after the war he went and studied Chemistry at Trinity. 

A professor of physics, astronomy and electrical engineering at USC for nearly 50 years, Robert W. Hellwarth was a laser innovator and a beloved mentor. 

Hellwarth was offered a scholarship to Princeton University, where he was valedictorian of his class, earning a dual undergraduate degree in physics and electrical engineering in 1952. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and spent the next three years at the University of Oxford, earning his doctorate in physics in 1955 and becoming a lifelong Anglophile.

A fellow of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Optical Society of America (OSA), Hellwarth was also the recipient of the OSA’s Charles Hard Townes Award.

Hellwarth wrote or co-authored more than 200 papers and articles, the last published in 2018, shortly before his 88th birthday.

Bob frequently returned to Oxford over the years, during which he'd meet with colleagues dating back to his Rhodes years, make recurring appearances at the Clarendon Laboratory, and popping in for tea at St. John's. 

Read more from USC Dornsife and the LA Times. Read Ben Hellwarth's Obituary for his father, Robert. 

Christopher Heywood studied English, Afrikaans, French and Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. As a Rhodes Scholar, he obtained a BA in English Language and Literature at New College, Oxford. His research interests included Anglo-French literary relations and African/South African literature. 

Christopher was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Literature at the University of Sheffield, Professor of English at the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and at Okayama University in Japan. 

Christopher loved music and played violin in several orchestras. He also enjoyed painting and travelling in his free time. 

Schindler originally studied engineering physics, but inspired by Charles Elton's seminal work on invasive biology, he transferred into the zoology program at North Dakota State University. He then went on to study under Elton at Oxford University, where he graduated with his doctorate in 1968 as a Rhodes Scholar.

Schindler's 1970s and early '80s landmark experiments sounded the alarm on acid rain and led the Canadian federal government to ban high-phosphorus laundry detergents. His 2010 research into Alberta's oilsands pushed the government to establish independent oversight of the industry, after he showed it was contributing contaminants to the region's watershed.

A skilled public communicator, Schindler is a recipient of the Order of Canada and numerous scientific awards, including the inaugural Stockholm Water Prize.

Read more. 

Chris studied English and Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, and went on to study at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he was awarded an MA in English Language and Literature. He went on to Rhodes University where he was a professor of poetry with the Institute for the Study of English in Africa. Chris founded Wordfest, a national multilingual festival of South African languages and literature with a developmental emphasis.

Chris wrote poetry for publication, performance, and multi-media presentation using the graphics of modern technology (created by artist Julia Skeen, Chris's wife). His work appeared in a wide range of journals, textbooks and anthologies in South Africa and abroad. His many publications include First Poems (Bateleur Press, 1979), New Shades (David Philip,1982), Kites (David Philip, 1992), Mann Alive! (David Philip, 1992), South Africans (University of Natal Press, 1996) and Heartlands (University of Natal Press, 2002). 

Chris was an active member of the Hall Writers’ Forum. He posted his Valediction to Seamus Heaney there, as a contribution to our National Poetry Day commemorative event in 2013 – it was read movingly by his sister beside the candle-lit well in the front quad, and subsequently published in the Oxford Magazine.

Kenneth Love studied History at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1955. He went on to work at IBM, in Portland. 

David graduated from Mount Allison University in 1967, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1969, and graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1973. Family Medicine was the bedrock of David's long, impactful, professional career. He was dedicated to the worth and value of compassionate, patient and relationship centred care. An avid reader and original thinker, he embraced narrative medicine, the deep understanding of the person with their unique story, beliefs and values, as the path to healing in the day to day work of family doctors.

'The universe is made not of atoms, but of stories.'

He began practice in Fredericton, NB, in 1973, and joined the Department of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University in 1978 as a leader in continuing medical education, and care of the elderly. Although he held many other posts, he kept his Dalhousie faculty appointment the rest of his life. As Professor and Head of Dalhousie Family Medicine from 1987 - 1995, he led and taught through understanding and gentle challenge - his motto 'When we tell a person something, we remove their chance to discover it themselves'. He asked astute questions, encouraged and supported people to discover their own answers. Kind, humble and patient, he delighted in the achievements of those he mentored. A timeless sense of duty, instilled by his parents, shaped his approach to life and work. David was always ready to lend a hand and most happy when he felt he was contributing.

Michael Blanchard Cook, 79, died peacefully at home in Falls Church Virginia on May 27, with his wife, children, and grandchildren by his side.  He leaves an extraordinary legacy of public service, athletic accomplishments, and family.   

Mike was born in 1942 to Gerhard Cook (an industrial chemist) and Lura Cook (teacher and community leader).  They moved to a farm in Clarence, NY when he was in primary school.  He worked long hours for a local farmer and actually started driving a tractor by the time he was 9.  After graduating from high school in 1959 he matriculated at Swarthmore College, where he played football and was captain of the wrestling team, as well as serving in student government.   After a graduate year at Princeton he won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University’s New College.  (The selection committee was particularly impressed that he knew how to milk a cow.)  At Oxford he played rugby, learned how to conduct himself at a sherry party, and graduated with a B. Phil. Degree in 1966.

From early on, Mike felt a strong pull toward public service, inspired by his mother’s family and by President Kennedy.  He joined the Foreign Service and arranged a detail to the counter-insurgency effort in Vietnam (1966-68).  He subsequently served as a foreign service officer in Udorn, Thailand.  Looking for a chance to have greater impact, he took a position with the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973, then a new organization with enormous responsibilities created by Congressional legislation.  He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 1979 and went on to serve as the first director of the Superfund Program and then to implement and direct our nation’s vital federal programs in drinking water, wastewater treatment, and hazardous waste. 

He received numerous awards during his 40+ years in the federal service, including Distinguished Federal Executive Award from President Reagan in 1987, and the Distinguished Career Service Award at the time of his retirement in 2006.  But the most meaningful acknowledgment has come from scores of co-workers who have written to him in the last few months, telling of their admiration for his dedication and ability, and how much they had learned from him.  He once said that much of his job as a manager was teaching.  There was a range of lessons -- his political bosses needed to know the substance of environmental regulation, his subordinates needed to know how to write an effective memo.

While in Vietnam, Mike met and eventually married Le Thi Kim Oanh, an advisor hired by the U.S. government to improve the Vietnamese government’s social and refugee services. Kim Oanh was from a prominent Vietnamese family with a BA from the University of Tennessee.  Mike likes to tell the story of the night he proposed to her. He was carrying a 357 magnum while driving on a deserted road made hazardous by landmines and Vietcong, but he is confident that she would have said yes if he had been unarmed.  Her father was not pleased that she married a foreigner, but ultimately Mike was instrumental in helping him, his wife, and many of their nine children resettle and become successful professionals in Northern Virginia, California, North Carolina, Montreal and Ottawa.  The marriage that began under such dicey circumstances became a great love story, lasting over 55 years.

Athletics were always an important part of Mike’s life.  After joining EPA and settling in Falls Church in 1973, he got caught up in the new endurance-sports craze.  He ran 38 marathons in all, some under 3 hours, and qualified for and ran in the Boston Marathon in 1986.  Cross-training became necessary after a knee injury, and soon he was riding the 15 miles to the office and back every day.  (He carried his dress shirt with him and had several suits at the office.)   He taught himself long-distance swimming and ultimately became a serious contender in over 200 triathlons, qualifying and participating in the 2000 Ironman Triathlon World Champions in Kona, Hawaii.  That year’s Ironman was hot with winds high enough to knock some racers off or their bikes, making the 140.6 miles of swimming, biking, and running especially challenging.  He said his greatest accomplishment was that he did not need the services of the medical tent after finishing.

Following retirement, Mike continued to train and compete, and continued to serve.  He and other community leaders were instrumental in helping Kim’s organization, the Vietnamese Resettlement Association, with grantwriting, fundraising, and teaching citizenship classes to help her clients prepare for naturalization exams.  Another important volunteer opportunity was helping found and then chair a non-profit, the Green Infrastructure Center, that advises cities on mitigating the damages of climate change through appropriate plantings.  And in recent years he worked with the EPA Alumni Association to mitigate the rollback of environmental regulation by the previous Presidential administration.  But much of his free time was devoted to helping with his four grandchildren.  He took great delight in their successes in the classroom and soccer field, and they in turn adored him.

Mike is survived by his wife of 53 years, Kim Cook; his son Arthur Van Cook and wife Rocio Cook, and their children Lura and Mikey; his son Benjamin Lê Cook and wife Madeline Fraser Cook, and their children Alex and Lily; brother Alan and his wife Bonny, their son Andrew and his wife Melissa, and their grandsons Matthew and Mason; brother Stephen and wife Linda, and their son Gordon and wife Golnaz,  and son James and his partner Colin; brother Philip and wife Judith, their daughter Elizabeth Camden, and their son Brian and his wife Kim DeFeo, grandchildren Clara and Warren.  Mike is also survived by six sisters-in-law and their families.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Mike’s name to the Vietnamese Resettlement Association using the following link: https://gofund.me/50729ed7.