Obituaries

We were saddened to hear of the demise of Professor Robert Bolton, who was a renowned expert on Aristotle and published on Aristotle’s philosophy of science, philosophical methodology, epistemology, and metaphysics.

After earning his B.A. at Princeton, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where he worked with G.E.L. Owen, writing on Plato’s Cratylus during his MLitt in Philosophy. Rob earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, and went on to teach at Rutgers University for 52 years.

Read full obituary here.

Justice Laurie Ackermann made significant contributions to South Africa's transition to constitutional democracy. Appointed by President Mandela to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa, Ackermann played a pivotal role in shaping human rights law and constitutional jurisprudence. His landmark judgments, most notably cases regarding human dignity and equality, have left an indelible mark on South Africa's legal landscape. In addition to his judicial contributions, we are grateful for his service as National Secretary for the Rhodes Scholarships in Southern Africa from 1988-2002.

Read a tribute to Laurie Ackermann by Sandra Liebenberg at Stellenbosch University.

Katherine Ruth "Katie" Richards was a gifted artist and journalist and principled social activist.

Katie graduated from Hellgate High School in 1980, from the University of Montana in 1984, and as a Rhodes Scholar she attended the University of Oxford, where she earned a degree in politics and philosophy and a graduate diploma in theology. In 1992 she completed a Master of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Maryland in College Park.

She met John Roome while studying at Oxford, and the two were married in Oxford in December 1987. Roome took a job with the World Bank out of Washington, D.C., moving the family to Olney, Maryland, where the couple raised two sons and a daughter and were part of the Sandy Spring Friends Quaker community.

From 1992 to 1995, Katie was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, working mostly out of the newspaper's suburban Maryland bureaus. Though she usually reported on local governments, she also wrote a well-received series of stories about a wayward manatee that needed human help to return to its Florida home from Maryland, and about the efforts of the Washington Redskins to build a new stadium in Maryland.

More recently, she became an active volunteer with the Maryland chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Katie was also an accomplished artist in multiple media and completed the Master Artist Program at Compass Atelier in Rockville, Maryland, showing her paintings at galleries in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Missoula (Dana Gallery) and Washington state. Her paintings were part of many juried shows, winning multiple awards.

She loved the outdoors and national parks, which she visited often and captured in her artwork. Glacier National Park in Montana and Kruger National Park in South Africa were especially beloved. She also deeply loved her family and friends, who were spread all over the U.S. and abroad. She stayed in touch with people she met at every stage in life.

Murphy graduated from Newfoundland's Memorial University before attending Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1986.

He got his start lending a hand at the private radio station VOCM in St. John's, backfilling a talk show while its host went on vacation.

Murphy would go on to spend many years working with CBC, including work on both radio and television. He was a National Post columnist at the time of his death and had previously written columns for The Globe and Mail.

Murphy hosted Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio for more than two decades and was a familiar face to longtime viewers of CBC's The National. His appearances on CBC-TV date as far back as the 1970s.

Richard was the epitome of the scholar-athlete. At Highland High, he played football and captained the basketball team. He played basketball at Harvard and rugby and tennis at Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Richard was a brilliant wordsmith in a variety of genres, writing for the Harvard Crimson, the Department of Agriculture, Lotus Software, Burson Marsteller, Apple, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley. He was a witty raconteur and a master of toasts, never sentimental and always capturing a friend, parent, child, sibling or relative with an affectionate phrase, humorous story or telling detail. He was happiest and most fully himself in lively conversation. A man of many (strongly held) opinions, he was a formidable and provocative disputant. One bantered with Richard at one's peril.

In addition to his career as a professional writer, Richard along the way took a number of side excursions: He was assistant dean of Harvard admissions, aide to Senator Frank Moss, manager of the Citgo service station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and director of the Utah Bicentennial Commission, where at the drop of a hat he would entertain the staff with an impromptu and badly danced Irish jig.

No matter how much time you spent with Richard, you came away with an indelible sense of his personality. A sampling of how people have described him: A vivid presence, one of a kind, in a league of his own, what a character, a true original. The most common tribute: "He was the funniest person I ever met."

Tom Sherman, a 1956 Oberlin graduate who returned to his alma mater to teach biology for 30 years, died April 9. He was 89.

A Rhodes Scholar, Sherman earned a DPhil from Oxford University in 1960 and began teaching at Oberlin six years later. He authored two books: A Place on the Glacial Till: Time, Land, and Nature Within an American Town, an affectionate chronicle of the natural history and life around his longtime home of Oberlin; and Energy, Entropy, and the Flow of Nature, an exploration of the principles of thermodynamics delivered in easy-to-follow language. Both books were published by Oxford University Press.

“Tom brought careful preparation and considerable thought to his lectures,” says Dennis Luck, an emeritus professor of biology and 24-year colleague of Sherman’s who bonded with the elder professor over their shared studies in Oxford’s doctoral program in biochemistry.

“He encouraged his students to forge cross-connections and to think independently. He stressed attention to accuracy and detail in written work. He will be remembered with affection by many Oberlin students and faculty as an accomplished, considerate, and gentle scholar.”

Ed excelled in academics and athletics at the Fessenden School, Phillips Academy Andover, Yale University, where he studied English literature, and Merton College Oxford, where he studied philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar. He later served those schools with great loyalty. He studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary and earned a law degree at Harvard Law School.

In Washington, D.C., Ed worked at Covington and Burling and then joined the U.S. Justice Department in the Office of Legal Counsel. He then moved back to the Boston area to help run the Council on Law Related Studies at Harvard Law School. That work led to his interest in the emerging field of environmental law, in which he became an early expert. In his practice, he focused on water and air pollution control. One of his proudest achievements was drafting the original Massachusetts Clean Water Act, which went further than federal laws of the time by defining “waters of the state” to include groundwater, thus requiring stricter regulation. Ed also taught environmental law courses at BU and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Ed served on a number of boards, including the Merton College Charitable Corporation and the All Newton Music School. On his retirement from law practice, he became a mediator, volunteered with the Executive Service Corps, and returned to English literature, his first love, leading classes on poetry, short stories, and philosophy for adult learners.

Ed pursued other passions after retirement as well. He took up piano lessons, learned to prepare gourmet meals, and participated in book clubs. Whatever he undertook, he set high standards for himself. Ed also reveled in becoming a grandfather.

Central to Ed’s life were his friendships, many dating to his youth. He and Renata, his beloved wife of nearly 64 years, maintained deep and lifelong connections with classmates and friends, traveling with them over many decades. They hosted numerous guests at their home with hospitality and warmth.

Ed loved poetry, from lyric odes to off-color limericks. He was especially moved by Shakespeare, Yeats, Thomas, Eliot, and Frost, with dozens of poems committed to memory. He was an elegant writer who took great delight in the English language, relishing puns, jokes, word play, and rules of grammar. With great wit, he crafted clever verses to celebrate friends and relatives. He loved classical music, especially works by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Bach, and Mozart. He cherished laughter and lively conversation over good food and fine wine.

We were deeply saddened to hear that Andrew Murray Watson died on April 4, 2024 at the age of 93. Born in 1930 to Amy (nee Reid) and Daniel Watson, Professor Watson was a graduate of Trinity College, University of Toronto. He completed his B. Comm in 1952 and his MA in 1953 before going to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Later, he attended the University of Paris and studied Arabic at the University of Cairo. He received his appointment to the University of Toronto in 1957. A professor of Economic History, Watson was affiliated with the Department of Economics and Trinity College, where he was Emeritus Fellow, throughout his career with the University of Toronto.

Andrew has left a lasting legacy to the field of Economic History. In 1974, he published the paper, “The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700-1100” in the Journal of Economic History. The paper became the basis of the 1983 book Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100. The volume and paper are still widely cited, and Watson is recognized as the first to make arguments about the role of the spread of Islam, coupled with agricultural innovations, in the economic transformation of the medieval world. 

While Watson retired in 1995, he taught until at least 2005 and completed his last academic assignment at the age of 80, following which he decided it was time to say good bye to academia and joyously devote himself solely to travel, adventure, and the enjoyment of the good company of his friends spread round the world. Amongst his many adventures in his 80's, he explored ancient grave sites in the Gobi Desert, and acted as guide for tours along the Silk Road. For over thirty years he spent the better part of his winters, at an old palace in Bali, where the staff treated him as an honoured Uncle.

Predeceased by his parents, his brother Hugh and sister Barbara, Professor Watson is survived by his nieces Janet Bell of Ottawa and Gail Lampinen of Sacramento, their families, and by countless friends.

Read full obituary here.