Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
Dr. Taniguchi was an Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, with a joint appointment in Radiation Oncology and Experimental Radiation Oncology. He was a physician scientist specialising in treating gastrointestinal malignancies, with a clinical and research focus on pancreatic cancer.
Richard Stewart, University Professor and John Edward Sexton Professor of Law, died on November 3. “Dick was a beloved figure within the legal community, known for his generosity, loyalty, and confident leadership,” Dean Troy McKenzie said in announcing Stewart’s passing.
Noting that Stewart was recognized as a preeminent scholar in environmental law and administrative law, McKenzie said, “It is no exaggeration to say that his death marks the passing of a giant in the law whose transformational influence on his field, and on our Law School, will be felt for many years to come.”
Stewart received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in History, the Arts, and Letters from Yale University and then, as a Rhodes Scholar, a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics with first class honors from Oxford University. He earned his law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Stewart began his legal career as a law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart at the US Supreme Court and worked for several years in private practice in Washington, DC. Joining the Harvard faculty, he quickly built a reputation as an extraordinary scholar with the publication in the Harvard Law Review of his now classic article, “The Reformation of American Administrative Law,” which marked a turning point in administrative law scholarship.
Stewart was a longtime leader of the Environmental Defense Fund, serving as its chairman from 1980 to 1983 and as a member of its board of trustees and advisory board. From 1989 to 1991, he served as assistant attorney general in charge of what was then known as the Land and Natural Resources Division of the US Department of Justice. He successfully worked to rename it the Environment and Natural Resources Division to reflect its mission more accurately. While in office, he led the investigation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the development of the US position in preparation for the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. He was also instrumental in crafting major environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Read the full obituary here.
Frank was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, and brought up in Vancouver. At Kitsilano High School and UBC, he thrived at academics, tennis, rugby, football and student politics. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he met and married June Reilly. They settled in Toronto, where Frank completed his PhD and was appointed to the English Literature department, University College, U of T. His work included pioneering studies of Canadian working-class literature and a book on Steinbeck. His real passion was his graduate Creative Writing seminar, which nurtured many young writers. Frank's own poetry collection, It's Over It's Beginning, was published in 1986 to critical acclaim. Much later, in his 80s, he self-published 9 books in one go, including novels, stories and poetry. In his 40s, he fell in love with show jumping, first as a rider and then as an avid supporter. Frank lived three happy decades on a beautiful farm near Schomberg with his second wife, Emily Brown, helping with her business transporting horses for some of Canada's top riders. Into his 80s, he was a local squash champion. He spent his final two years at Sunrise of Unionville, where he was loved for his cheerful humour and friendly banter.
Dr Prendergast was a force in science and medicine and a trailblazer in civil rights. In 1995, just 28 years ago, he became the first Black director of an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Prendergast was a role model who encouraged young men and women to pursue careers in science and medicine at mainstream institutions. When asked by a young Black physician about it being unusual for a Jamaican to settle in Rochester, MN, he interjected humor, saying, “It’s easy once you get used to the fact that they put white cream sauces on everything.”
Prendergast laughed, further reflecting on the Nordic cuisine, predominantly Nordic population, and snow-covered landscape.
He then added: “I am talking about more than just food.”
Dr. Prendergast and a very small number of peers literally opened doors, creating opportunities for minorities in medicine. One should not underestimate the importance of men and women like Prendergast, who demonstrated what Black people and minorities could accomplish with utmost competence. His opening of minds and widespread acceptance created opportunities for others.
Read the full obituary here.
Samuel Clark Oliver Holt, a former radio and television executive who made significant contributions to public broadcasting.
Sam Holt was born January 18, 1936, in Birmingham, AL. He graduated from Episcopal High School in 1953 and Princeton University in 1958, after taking a year off to work for CBS News in New York. From there he went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar; he later remembered his three years there, at Christ Church college, as among the best of his life. Sam was in ROTC while at Princeton and after returning from England in 1961, he served in the Army as an artillery officer, stationed at Fort Sill, OK. He was honorably discharged as a captain in 1963 but remained in the Army Reserve until 1970. After finishing his active military duty, he taught for a year at Southern Methodist University, then attended Harvard University for graduate work in history.
In 1970, Sam married Jane Elliott Mansfield, whom he had met in Cambridge, and moved to Washington to work for the Public Broadcasting Service. As the first programming director at PBS, Sam helped create programs including "Masterpiece Theater" and "The MacNeil-Lehrer Report" (now "PBS Newshour"). In 1977 he joined NPR as Senior Vice President for Programming and helped launch programs such as "Morning Edition." He directed NPR's programming until 1982. The following year he won the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Samuel C.O. Holt papers, related to his years in public broad-casting, are housed in the archival collections at the University of Maryland.
After leaving NPR, Sam continued his career as a media and broadcasting consultant; over the years, he worked for HBO, Discovery, and WorldSpace (the former satellite radio company). A devout Episcopalian, Sam served as an acolyte for many years and was a member of the vestry of Christ Church, Georgetown. In recent years, he attended services at St. David's in Washington and St. Andrew's in Boca Grande, FL. He cherished his memberships in the Cosmos Club and the Literary Society of Washington, as well as in "Leo," a book club that has met regularly since he and a handful of other men founded it in 1975.
Read the full obituary here
We are saddened to hear about the passing of Barry Forman who came up to Oxford in 1967 to study a DPhil in classics.
We are saddened by the news of Jan's passing. Jan came up to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1968 and studied for a DPhil in Biochemistry.
Anthony (Tony) Ardington lived a life of service, of leadership and extreme empathy for those less fortunate than himself, but at the same time, according to those who knew and loved him, he wasn’t one to easily suffer fools or time wasters!
Born in 1940 to a farming family near Mandeni in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Ardington was first schooled at Cordwalles in Pietermaritzburg before moving on to Michaelhouse in 1954.
In the Michaelhouse archives, Ardington is described as a student of “modest” academic achievement and a “distinguished cricketer”. However, by the time he came to write his school-leaving exam he had allegedly “re-arranged his priorities” and attained a first class matric!
Ardington played for the First XI and was elected as vice-captain of the team before a knee injury interrupted his sporting career for a brief period. During his final year at the school, he was appointed a prefect and given a white badge – a coveted award – which recognised his exceptional leadership qualities. It was also during his early life that his characteristic concern for those less fortunate than himself came to the fore.
Scholar, diplomat and sportsman, Rawdon Dalrymple was, above all, a thinker who contributed greatly to Australia’s search for identity in the Asia-Pacific.
Dalrymple’s ancestry was a mix of Scottish, English and Polynesian. His great-grandfather on his mother’s side sailed from South America to Pitcairn Island. He subsequently took many of the Bounty mutineers and families to settle on Norfolk Island.
Dalrymple’s parents, both of whom served in World War I – his mother as a nurse and his father as a sapper – were of modest means. Through a mix of scholarships and his mother’s determination, Dalrymple attended Shore after Warrawee Public School.
Indeed, Dalrymple’s academic brilliance constantly ensured the opening of opportunities which otherwise would have been out of financial reach.
Studying philosophy at Sydney University in 1948-51, Dalrymple spent his final year at Wesley College off the back of a scholarship from the Ku-ring-gai Branch of the RSL, in recognition of his parents’ war service.
Importantly, Wesley College introduced him to rowing, at which he excelled, and which was central to him being awarded the NSW Rhodes Scholarship for 1952. At University College, Oxford, Dalrymple became captain of the college boat club and rowed in the Isis Eight, Oxford’s second crew. He graduated with first class honours in philosophy, economics and politics.
Attending University College at the same time was a Rhodes scholar from Western Australia – future prime minister Bob Hawke. Dalrymple and Hawke became firm friends, their lives intersecting regularly thereafter both personally and professionally.
Read the full obituary here.