Obituaries
Please alert us to the recent death of any other Rhodes Scholar by emailing communications@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Tony Wallace in Brighton at the age of 78. Tony arrived at Oxford to study at Balliol College in 1969.
It is with profound sadness that we announce that David Evans, late of Paddington, passed away peacefully at 90 years of age.
David arrived at Oxford in 1957 as a Rhodes Scholar, and went on to have a life of extraordinary public service as an Australian diplomat from 1959 to 1998, including the United Nations in New York City, Counsellor in Yugoslavia and First Assistant Secretary for Europe, Americas and New Zealand, 1980. David also served as Australian High Commissioner to Ghana and Malaysia, and Ambassador to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and Mongolia, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Born in Adelaide, Peter was a 1963 Rhodes Scholar, Professor in Biotechnology at the University of New South Wales, consultant to the United Nations and international aid agencies, and an expert in applying biotechnology to renewable energy and sustainable development.
Peter will be long remembered and greatly missed - a devoted and cherished husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and cousin; a gentle man of wisdom and peace; a gifted scholar and teacher; a talented sportsman; a loyal friend.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Pradeep Mitra on 9 November 2024, at the age of 77. Pradeep joined Oxford in 1968 to study Economics. He served as Chief Economist at the World Bank from 2002 until 2011, and published widely in public economics and development economics throughout his career.
A funeral service was held for him on 10 November 2024 in Woodbine, Maryland.
We are saddened to hear of Shaun's passing. He came to Oxford in 1965 to study Mathematics.
Shaun died peacefully surrounded by family on 27 October in Sydney.
Patrick was born in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe in Zambia), and raised in Borrowdale outside of Salisbury (now Harare), then capital of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He was educated at St George's College before being named a 1965 Rhodes Scholar, where he obtained his MBChB and DM.
During Patrick’s clinical training and early work as a physician, he spent time at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London, Wessex Cardiac and Thoracic Center in Southampton, and the National Heart Hospital in London. He moved to the United States in 1980 as a British-American Fellow of the American College of Cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Patrick became an Assistant Professor of Medicine (cardiology) at the University of Michigan from 1982 to 1986. He then moved to Indianapolis, IN, where he became an Associate Professor of Cardiology in 1986 and a Professor of Medicine in 1994, and he practiced as an interventional cardiologist through the Indiana University and Methodist health systems in Indianapolis until 2019. He was a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the Royal College of Physicians.
Patrick also found lifelong prowess and success in sport. As a child in Rhodesia, then during university in the UK, he took part in the British traditions of rugby and cricket. While in university, he took up squash, rising quickly to the university "Squirrels" team, and elected to membership of the Vincent's sports club at Oxford. In middle age, he took up fitness anew; he ran in the Boston Marathon seven times and completed over 50 full and half Ironman triathlon competitions, including 10 Ironman World Championships and 10 “Half Ironman” World Championships.
He relished adventures with his children, hiking and climbing mountains, from Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, to backpacking summits in Ecuador, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Rwanda. He continued to relish skiing double-black diamonds, playing pickleball, and rounds of golf into his last year of life and was committed to demonstrating that “life is full” to the end.
Wynne Milton Rigal died on 17 October at his home in Edmonton. Born on 28 April 1932 in Kimberley, South Africa, he grew up on the Tooch family ostrich farm in Oudsthoorn. After attending SACS school, where he played rugby and excelled at Track and Field, he completed his medical degree at the University of Cape Town. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford where he studied Physiology at Hartford College and earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1961.
He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Frances Alexandor in Ottawa in 1961; they moved to Edinburgh where he took up a clinical teaching position at the University of Edinburgh. He received a WHO grant for travel in the USA (1960) and a Council of Europe grant for work in Amsterdam and Vienna (1961). He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1961.
In 1968 they moved to Edmonton where he lived for 56 years. He practiced and taught Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Alberta until retirement age. After that he travelled Alberta in his beloved Dodge camper van running medical clinics and performing minor surgery at under-resourced rural hospitals. He was an active member of his synagogue, Beth Shalom; he served as President in the 1970s.
He will be remembered with love, gratitude and admiration by family, friends, colleagues, hunting, cycling and skiing buddies and, especially, his patients who he treated meticulously with affection and professionalism.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Liyanda Lekalake in October 2024. Liyanda came to Oxford in 1985 to study law. A memorial service for her was held on 18 October 2024 in Johannesburg.
Francis Fox PC KC (December 2, 1939 – September 24, 2024) was a Canadian politician who was a member of the Senate, Cabinet minister, and Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Fox was a lawyer by training.
He was elected as a Member of Parliament from 1972-1984, during which time he served as Solicitor General, Minister of Communications and Secretary of State.
He was appointed to the Senate in 2005, representing Victoria until his retirement in 2011.