Obituaries

We are saddened to hear of Richard's passing. He came to Oxford in 1966 to study Politics. A service was held in his memory on 19 May 2023 in Clarksburg, Maryland.

We are terribly saddened to let you know of the death of Professor Derek Allen, Trinity’s long-serving Dean of Arts & Vice-Provost and Honorary Fellow, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. We are all reeling from the sudden loss of someone so important to the Trinity community.

For 60 years, Derek was at the heart of the Trinity community — first, as an outstanding undergraduate student and alumnus (Class of 1969), and then as a professor and as a key college administrator. He was a highly respected philosopher (and wickedly intelligent about most everything!), and a consummate academic administrator.

But Derek was so much more than this. He was a wonderful role model, kind human being and friend to so many in our community. In his quiet but resolute ways, he enriched the students’ academic experience and always put students first. He was unfailingly wise and generous as a colleague and mentor, both at Trinity and in the wider University of Toronto community. And as a long-time donor and a prominent member of the Salterrae Society, Derek was always a leader in encouraging support for the College so that the unique Trinity experience could extend to future generations. Even long after his “retirement,” Derek continued to play a crucial role at the college, teaching in the programs, supporting various committees and, in ways too numerous to list, making Trinity a better place.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions, in 2019, Derek received the highest honour that Trinity College bestows upon an individual — an Honorary Fellowship. As the citation said, the fellowship was in recognition of his long and distinguished career as an esteemed academic leader, a respected colleague, and a generous mentor to students at both Trinity College and the University of Toronto.

Professor John Duncan, who worked closely with Derek at Trinity for 15 years, shares this reflection:

“Derek was an incredibly kind-hearted person — fundamentally gracious and supportive of all those around him. Derek had a deep and abiding love for the academic mission. Trinity was his academic home for more than six decades. From his student days to a 16-year term as Dean of Arts and Vice-Provost, his love for the college, its people and its programs of study was always evident. He believed in higher education, and he worked tirelessly to make it the best it could be at Trinity. Derek was an incredibly sharp and clear thinker, writer and speaker, and a master of organization. In some ways, he was unassuming, and yet his presence was always felt because he was genuinely supportive of others. And because he was an academic, he made a huge difference in the lives of students, staff and faculty over the many decades of his career. He cared for each of us, and we are better because of him. He was and is widely loved and respected, and he will be sorely missed.”

Although many of you may already know about Derek’s contributions to Trinity, you may not be aware of his larger impact on academe — so I wanted to share these highlights from his biography:

Professor Emeritus Derek Allen, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto in 1969 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and History, a Rhodes Scholarship (Ontario), and a Governor General’s Medal for the highest standing in the Humanities in Trinity College’s graduating class. He earned two graduate degrees at the University of Oxford, including a D.Phil. in Philosophy. From 1996-2012, he served as Trinity’s Vice-Provost and Dean of Arts, and was responsible for the growth of the College’s excellent academic programs. He has received five teaching awards, including an Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations award for an outstanding contribution to university teaching and a 3M National Teaching Fellowship Award in recognition of teaching excellence and educational leadership. In 2013, he received the Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award for “a faculty member who has served the University of Toronto with distinction in multiple leadership capacities in diverse spheres over many years.”

Trinity College has been profoundly shaped by Derek Allen and we will not be the same without him. He will be deeply missed.

Bob O'Neill came up to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1961 and was Chichele Professor of the History of War at All Souls College, Oxford from 1987 to 2001. He was the first Australian serving officer to be elected to a Rhodes Scholarship.

We are grateful for his long service to the Rhodes community through his role as a Trustee from 1995-2001.

Learn more about his life and work.

Professor Thompson was the former Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and served as a dean and professor at the Universities of Idaho and Hawaii. He also was the dean of the Haile Sellassie University School of Law in Ethiopia and co-founded the faculty of law at the University of Zambia. In addition, Professor Thompson has taught law in the Sudan, Zambia and Ethiopia, as well as U.S. law schools. Most recently, he was Acting Dean from January 2007 through August 2008 at the College of Law of Michigan State University.

Professor Thompson served full-time in Indonesia as Legal Education Advisor for the government from 1993 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2004. His research interests revolved primarily around lawyers, law, and social change in developing countries.

William Kent Megill, 82, of Ottawa, died April 10, 2023, surrounded by his family in the Ottawa General Hospital, of complications due to lung fibrosis.

Bill was born in Ottawa on November 26, 1940 to Maj Gen William J and Doris M Megill (née Kent). He attended the Collège Militaire Royal de St-Jean, Quebec, and graduated with a BSc in Maths and Physics from the Royal Military College in Kingston, in 1962. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study for an MA at Oxford University in the UK, where he read Russian and French. Later he would complete a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration at Laval University and a masters in Political Science at the University of Kansas.

He joined the armoured corps while at RMC, then served with distinction in three armoured regiments, first with the Fort Garry Horse, later with the 12e Régiment Blindé du Canada, and finally with the Lord Strathconas Horse (Royal Canadians) which he commanded. The highlight of his military career was arguably his appointment as Military Advisor to the Canadian delegation to the arms control negotiations in Vienna that ultimately led to the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

After retiring from the army, he began a new career as a land claims negotiator for the federal government, initially in coastal British Columbia and finally in the western Arctic. His love for language and culture served him well throughout the complex negotiations to find a balanced rearrangement of the social order and legal situation in the MacKenzie Delta in particular.

Alongside his long career in the public service, Bill also enjoyed serving the public in the communities where he lived. Whether it was coaching little league soccer, heading up the Quebec Council of Scouts Canada, chairing the board of the Aphasia Centre, rebuilding the Priory of Simon Peter for the Templars or collecting hockey equipment to send to youth in the arctic, Bill brought his passion and experience to the challenge of building community.

He was dedicated contributor to the St Matthews and Glebe communities. Here the pandemic brought an old talent back to the fore as he turned his early career experience as the voice of the 1967 Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo to bear on the challenge of reaching the congregation and community during the hard months of lockdown.

Bill is survived by his wife Deirdre Nicholds and sons William M Megill (Susanne) and John Megill, grandchildren Liam and Natalie, siblings Margaret (Peggy) Hudson (Peter) and Suse Megill. Bill was surrogate grandfather to Deirdres grandchildren, Harry and Bridget Phillips. He was preceded in death by his first wife Susie (née MacDonald), brother Jim (Heather), and sister Janie (David).

Passing of eminent Gold Coast neurologist, Professor John Corbett

One of the Gold Coast's most respected medical practitioners, Professor John Corbett, has died.

An eminent neurologist, Rhodes Scholar and founder of Corbett Neurophysiology Services, 82-year-old Professor Corbett served the Gold Coast for three decades in the fields of neurology, neurophysiology, and sleep medicine.  His passing closes a medical, scientific and business career that spanned more than 50 years in the UK, US and Australia.

Born in Brisbane in 1940, John Corbett excelled in his early studies becoming Dux of his primary school and a captain of Gregory Terrace. The recipient of an Open Scholarship to the University of Queensland, he graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.

In 1965, Professor Corbett was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and spent the next nine years at the University of Oxford, where he completed his PhD in Neurophysiology. He also became the inaugural BMA Research Fellow, an Oxford Don and published more than 50 articles in learned academic journals.

New opportunities tempted him away from Oxford and in 1973 he took up senior neurology appointments at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in the US.

Returning to Australia in 1974, he fulfilled a Senior Neurology role at the Royal Brisbane Hospital before launching his private neurology clinical practice in Sydney. His expertise proved invaluable in the medical arena and the law, culminating in more than 5,000 medico-legal reports and regular appearances as an expert witness. He was involved in placing the first ever CT machines in Australia into the North Shore Private Hospital and other locations.

In the 1980s, Professor Corbett decided to try his hand at business and industry.  To this end he worked in the field of mining of minerals – clay, tin and gold and he was an innovator in the development of ultrasonic engineering applications for piling, earthmoving, mining and mineral processing.  His next foray was Weapons Training Systems, involving high level contracts with the Australian Army and various international contracts, such as the USA Army.  He was regarded as the saviour of the Kemtron and Lomah groups.  Like everything he turned his mind to, he proved to be a successful businessman but he missed the challenges medicine had given him and ultimately, resumed his medical career. 

Professor Corbett launched Corbett Medical Services on the Gold Coast in 1994, operating out of the magnificent family home, Surrey House, in Southport. He was also a founding member of SNORE Australia, which became Australia’s largest provider of Level 1 sleep studies.

In 2000 John and Lorraine purchased a 156-acre botanical estate at Springbrook adjacent to the World Heritage Rain Forest and spent 22 years fulfilling his love of nature, he worked tirelessly on beautifying the land.  He could then be found on the weekends on a tractor plowing fields and planting tree farms.

He received the Australian Centenary Medal Award in 2001 for Distinguished Service in the Field of Medicine. In 2011, Epilepsy Queensland presented him with its Flame Award for his years of services and support.

In 2021, Professor Corbett was diagnosed with the terminal condition Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He is survived by his devoted wife Lorraine, much loved daughter Vanessa, son in law Sean, and grandchildren Brooke and Harrison.

A true gentleman of wisdom and compassion, who will be greatly missed by all who knew him

Touching tributes have been paid following the death of a “pioneering” professor and doctor dubbed the “grandfather of gastroenterology in South Yorkshire”.

Prof Karna Dev Bardhan OBE, known as Chandu, died peacefully on April 5 aged 82.

The Wickersley doctor was the first ever recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Society of Gastroenterology, which said it was “saddened” to hear of his passing, noting how he “inspired a generation of doctors both within South Yorkshire and way beyond”.

A Freeman of the Borough, Prof Bardhan was honoured as Rotherham Citizen of the Year in 2000 and awarded the OBE a year later.

The father of two and grandfather of three went on to set up a research unit and a family charity.

Born in India, he graduated from The Christian Medical College in Vellore, where he met his wife Gouri and was named an outstanding student of his year.

He came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1964 before going on to become a registrar in Sheffield.

Gouri came to the UK to study in 1969 and the couple met again, before marrying in 1972.

They moved to Rotherham after Prof Bardhan became a consultant physician with an interest in gastroenterology, aged just 32, at the former Doncaster Gate Hospital in 1973, later going on to work at Rotherham Hospital.

He was the first gastroenterologist in Rotherham — as his field was not regarded as a speciality at the time — and went on to set up a research unit which became an internationally-recognised centre of excellence for gastrointestinal diseases.

Gouri, who worked as a consultant in Doncaster, said Prof Bardhan had worked with pharmaceutical companies and run clinical trials which showed test drug cimetidine was effective in relieving symptoms and healing stomach ulcers.

The drug went on to be extensively used to treat miners and steelworkers affected by the condition.

Prof Bardhan used the financial income this produced to fund PhD, MD and MSC students.

The research unit later became The Bardhan Research and Education Trust, which had 54 students by the time Prof Bardhan retired in 2011.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals has also run The Bardhan Fellowship annual research prize for more than 20 years, and called Prof Bardhan the “grandfather of gastroenterology in South Yorkshire”, citing his “inspiration and guidance” for many of its own developments.

Post retirement, Prof Bardhan taught sessions on different clinical systems, enabling students to practise techniques and skills in a less pressured environment.

He also began his memoirs, working with his secretary Beverley Mason and writer Ray Hearne.

After he suffered a stroke last September, his wife teamed up with Beverley and Ray to produce the book, “An Improbable Journey in Medicine: A Story of Courage and Enterprise”, which was published by Amazon in March.

Gouri said: “Medicine meant a lot to him. He did what all the doctors tried to do, to treat the patient as a whole, not just a stomach or a colon as sometimes can happen.

“He was a pioneer in many, many ways but more importantly, he was kind, compassionate and he treated everybody equally.”

Rotherham Hospital chief executive Dr Richard Jenkins described Prof Bardhan as an “inspirational and dedicated consultant”, adding: “He will be greatly missed by many people.”

George Bryson Thomas Jr. died at home on March 10, 2023. George was born on August 2, 1935, to Catherine McPherson Thomas and George Bryson Thomas in Norfolk, Virginia. He had happy memories of growing up on Willoughby Spit and elsewhere in Norfolk. He is predeceased by his sister, Anne T. Thomas who was one year younger and an important part in that happy childhood.

He graduated from Granby High School and went to University of Virginia on a newly-created Congressional Regional scholarship. He delighted in academic and other activities at UVA. A favorite memory when president of the Jefferson debating Society was getting the authors William Faulkner and John Dos Passos together, even though the expected witty repartee didn't materialize. Fraternity Phi Gamma Delta, the Raven Society, sports editor for Cavalier Daily, managing the men's lacrosse team, living in room 27 on the Lawn, summers selling shoes and other eclectic activities filled those 4 years, graduating in 1957. A few collegiate honors included honorary Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Delta Epsilon, Phi Eta Sigma, and Phi Beta Kappa. He credited a particular undergraduate seminar with making him realize that what he wanted was a life in academia.

As a 1957- 59 Rhodes Scholar at St. John's College in Oxford, George cemented his love of the study of Philosophy as well as European political history. He joined the men's crew team at St. John's. He also gained skill at climbing the college walls when games of bridge got him out past the deadline. Although he didn't play bridge for over 50 years, he returned to it in his last year, thanks to friends at University Village.

A PhD in Philosophy followed at Harvard University in 1963. He and Sally Hyde got married that summer in her parents' home in Oregon and he joined the University of Virginia Department of Philosophy and started his 40-plus years of teaching and writing there. He often said that he could hardly believe he was getting paid to do what he so thoroughly enjoyed doing. Countless students over those years were challenged to think through ancient puzzles like whether there is free will. His seminars on Emmanuel Kant were particularly well-known. He served as Chair of the Philosophy Department for many years. He retired from the Philosophy Department in 2002 but continued to teach for the Philosophy Department until 2010 as well as at OLLI.

In his whole life, George was most proud of his daughters, Laura Gwen Thomas and Nancy Ellen Thomas, of San Francisco. Nancy died in 2021, and our daughter-in-law, Kanani Kauka died in 2018. Nancy's partner Todd Weaver remains a part of our family.

A quick student of languages, and a devotee of history, George was a extraordinary traveller to foreign countries, especially if there were operas to attend. Operas were a life-long passion, from listening to the Metropolitan Opera every weekend to surviving the full Wagner Ring cycle in San Francisco. He was a long-time supporter of the Charlottesville Opera (including hosting visiting musicians every summer). The sister-city relationship with Poggio a Caiano, Italy, especially, provided delightful excursions and friendships.

A life-long athlete until his mobility declined in later years, he enjoyed running, tennis, and squash. He went bungee jumping in Bergen, Norway for his 61st birthday and sky diving for the first (and last) time at 63. After retiring, he volunteered for many years with the Emergency Food Network. He was a dedicated political spouse supporting his wife Sally's campaigns and lengthy career on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.

George loved the many cats the family lived with over the years, from Pariah, the cat that Sally and George adopted as newlyweds, through Sam, who just showed up at the house one day, and Teddy, the cat who was with him when he died. He insisted in speaking Italian to the cats, as they seemed to understand that just as well as they did English. He was notorious for attempting to reason with the cats, carefully explaining to them exactly WHY they should not be on the table. That worked as well as you would imagine it did.

Although George loved the family's old home in West Leigh, and his pioneering of organic vegetable gardening, he discovered that condominium life was a delight for his final years: so many friends, so many conversations. Thank you to University Village residents for his final happy years. And thank you to UVA doctors for helping him deal for 62 years with Type 1 diabetes and all its effects and to the Hospice of the Piedmont for making the last year of his life more comfortable.

Mr. James Covington Parham, Jr., gracefully departed his earthly body on March 6, 2023 at age 92. Known to most everyone as “Poss,” he was born in Sumter, South Carolina on October 1, 1930 to the late Alice Witherspoon Wilson Parham and James C. Parham, Sr.  Poss graduated from Edmonds High School (now Sumter High School) in 1948, where he was valedictorian, student body president, and lettered in baseball and football.  In 1952 he graduated from Princeton University, where he was elected class president for three consecutive years, played football and baseball, won the Detwiler Prize, the thesis prize, and led a social revolution called the “100-percent-or-none” movement that demanded inclusivity in the university’s eating clubs and permanently changed the fabric of students’ cultural experience. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, he received a BCL from Oxford University, Magdalen College in 1956 and graduated with an LLB from Yale Law School in 1957.  

Poss became a fighter pilot, flying the F-104, F-102 and F-86 with the South Carolina Air National Guard, 157th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, and retained a close kinship with his fellow “Swamp Fox” pilots throughout his life. But his affinity for flying led him to meet the true love of his life, Margaret “Peggy” Kinley, as a young cadet in San Antonio, Texas.  They married in 1958 and shared 64 years and five children together. 

Following his clerkship for the Honorable Ashton Williams, United States District Court in Charleston, he joined Wyche, Burgess, Freeman & Parham in 1960, where he practiced law up until the very last years of his life.  In 1964, he represented the Greenville County School District in desegregation litigation and was integral in ensuring the voluntary, expeditious and peaceful integration of over 55,000 students in only two weeks, an event so historic it was reported in the New York Times. He was known as a quintessential lawyer, mentor, and gentleman, leaving a lasting impression of kindness, humility, and generosity on all who knew him and inspiring countless young people to become lawyers, to become better lawyers, or to become better people.  

His innumerable professional and civic contributions include service as President of the South Carolina Bar, the Greenville County Bar, Greenville Rotary Club, Greenville United Way, Greenville Symphony, and board member of many other community organizations.  From 1977-1983, he served on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, Fourth Circuit Member.  For over twenty-five years, Mr. Parham served on the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee.  In addition to serving on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association, he served on the Princeton Board of Trustees from 1976-1980, the Executive Committee in 1980, and was Chairman of the Princeton Alumni Association from 1989-1991.  

In 2002, Poss received the Tommy Thomason Award from the Greenville County Bar Association, In 2022, he received the DuRant Public Service Award from the South Carolina Bar Foundation for the culmination of a lifetime in the law marked by integrity, character, and active pursuits to ensure justice.  An active member of Christ Episcopal Church, Mr. Parham served on the Vestry as well as various committees.  Second only to his devotion to his family, perhaps his most lasting legacy was his unflinching faith in the ultimate goodness of humankind.

In addition to his wife Peggy, Poss is survived by five children: the Reverend James C. Parham, III (Christine), Arthur Bradley Parham, Tally Parham Casey (Matthew), Maggie Parham Murdock (Scott), and John Gregory Kinley Parham.  Also surviving him are his 14 grandchildren: Chris Owens (James), Isabelle Davis, Harriotte Davis, Margaret Parham, Mary Tindall Parham, Arthur Bradley Parham, Jr., Jaxon Alexander Casey, Wyatt James Kosciusko, Mia Witherspoon Kosciusko, Breanna Shannon, Jacob Scott Murdock, Henry James Murdock, Abigail Toeko Murdock, and Kaya Logan Parham.  He was predeceased by his brother, John Snowden Wilson Parham.