People
Obituaries
Judi Arnold started
working at the Day Nursery in 1982 when the Nursery was situated in the
original “site hut”. It was then only a 50 place Day Nursery that catered
for student and staff children on a term time only basis.
Judi soon proved herself to
be an extremely efficient and capable member of staff with a wealth of
practical knowledge that she soon put to good use in the 2-3 age range.
Judi displayed infinite patience with children who were being left for the
first time, helping them to gain confidence and enjoy the nursery
environment.
In 1994 two purpose built
units were opened on the North side of campus to accommodate the 120
children that the nursery is now registered for. Judi helped to ensure
that this huge transition went as smoothly as possible as the Nursery more
than doubled in size and the staffing levels tripled.
Judi was an extremely popular
member of staff, who was reliable and conscientious with a good sense of
humour (always important when working with children!). Judi stayed at the
Nursery for another four years until she unfortunately retired due to ill
health in 1998, although she remained a regular visitor until her death in
August 2008.
She will be sadly missed by
the staff of the Nursery and our thoughts are with her husband Alan, and
sons Matthew and Bruce.
Elaine Dixon, Day Nursery
Professor Anthony Holt joined the University's
Department of Mathematics in 1967.
Promoted through the academic ranks, he became Professor
in 1991, and, on official retirement, Emeritus Professor in 2005. He
continued with active research until a month before his death, with two
final papers appearing later this year.
His PhD dealt with scattering theory and this led to a
natural collaboration with other Essex staff interested in the effects of
scattering by hydrometeors (rain, hail etc). A series of research grants
(many with collaborators across Europe and, in this country, with the Met
Office, the Environment Agency and OFCOM) resulted in the foundation of
the Department's Propagation Laboratory (now named in his honour).
Anthony's work has contributed to a better understanding
of weather radar data and, most recently, has sparked a pan-European
interest in the possibility of using telecommunication links for the
measurement of local rainfall.
Anthony was Dean of the School of Mathematics and
Computing from 1988-1990 and Head of the Dept of Mathematics from 1998
until 2002. Among his many PhD students is the current Chief Executive of
the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Paul Hardaker.
Professor Graham Upton, Department of Mathematical
Sciences
Jennifer Roberts has died
suddenly at the age of 66.
During the late 70s and early 80s,
Jenny was the secretary and coordinator for the English as a Foreign
Language Unit At the time she was married to the late John Roberts,
lecturer and later senior lecturer in the Department of Language and
Linguistics. They both played a key role in the welfare of foreign
students.
Jenny left to become a publisher with
Lloyds of London Press in Colchester and then, up until retirement, was
publications manager at Southampton Institute, now the Southampton Solent
University.
Jenny was a very keen badminton
player and, until she moved to Southampton, remained an enthusiastic
member of Campus Badminton and a regular team player. he kept in close
contact with many Campus Badminton members, retained a great interest in
the University, and is sadly missed.
Dr David Lovett, formerly of the
Physics Centre and a member of the Campus Badminton club
Mark Sacks, Professor and
former Head of the Department of Philosophy, died from cancer on 17 June
2008. He was 54. He is survived by his mother, Pauline, his wife, Lucy
O’Brien (also a philosopher), and his two children.
Mark was born in South Africa but moved with his
family to Israel when he was a teenager. He did his national service in
the Israeli army for three years, which included a posting in the
adjutant’s office of central command during the Yom Kippur war of 1973. He
studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before pursuing graduate
studies in philosophy first at Columbia University in New York, and then
at King’s College, Cambridge, where he wrote his PhD under the supervision
of the late Sir Bernard Williams. He took a
research fellowship at Sheffield University, followed by a permanent
lectureship at the University of Liverpool. Mark joined the Philosophy
Department at Essex as a Reader in 1992, became Professor in 2001 and Head
of Department in 2004. He stepped down prematurely in December 2006 due to
having been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Mark's influence on the Department’s
evolution was very significant. Two years before coming to Essex, he had
founded the European Journal of Philosophy, which he edited for
over a decade. The journal quickly became a major reference for scholars
wishing to reconcile the clear and rigorous approach of analytic
philosophy with the historic richness and thematic breadth of its
continental counterpart, and has been instrumental in fostering a
rapprochement between the two traditions. Mark brought the same spirit of
reconciliation and cross-fertilisation between different styles of
thinking to the Philosophy department at Essex. Although he himself was
trained as an analytic philosopher, his open-mindedness and enthusiasm for
breaking down traditional boundaries between disciplines shaped both the
department’s ethos and its strategic orientations.
At the time of his death, Mark was
leading a major Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project on
‘Transcendental Philosophy and Naturalism’. This was the continuation of
his previous work on the nature of the world that surrounds us and the
relations we have with it, which he had started to explore in The World
We Found (1989) and Objectivity and Insight (2000). One of
Mark's main concerns was to secure the possibility of objective knowledge
while fully acknowledging the extent to which the world we interact with
is dependent on our practical and cognitive activity. Within the context
of this project, he was working on a third book on 'transcendental proof',
a new interpretation of the method originally introduced by Kant.
Mark was a philosopher of
international, even world class status. Yet he had many other talents: he
played the guitar and wrote songs and poetry. He was fascinated by the
theatre and the interplay of fiction and reality involved in theatrical
performances. While on night shifts in the Israeli army, he wrote several
plays himself. He also had a strong interest in painting and leaves
amongst his unpublished papers a substantial manuscript on power and
representation in Hans Holbein the Elder’s work.
It would have been difficult not to
admire Mark's intelligence, subtlety and insight. Yet it was perhaps even
harder not to appreciate his human qualities. As Head, he was kind and
supportive to all members of staff, both academic and administrative,
while keeping in sight the greater good of the department and the
institution, he was particularly sensitive to the personal aspects of
individual situations. His even-headedness, his ability to combine an
extremely perspicuous understanding of people and situations with a light
and gentle sense of humour made him an irreplaceable friend and colleague.
His untimely death is an unspeakably sad loss to his family and friends,
to the philosophical community and to his home institution.
Professor Béatrice Han-Pile,
Department of Philosophy
Also in the printed October edition of Wyvern:
- New faces
- Professor Lind retires after 40 years
- Farewell Linda
- Art historian steps down from teaching
