The university flag will be lowered on Thursday, Jan. 26 in honour of UVic employee Greig Cosier, who passed away Jan. 7, 2017. Greig worked in Facilities Management as a custodian for more than 22 years, and volunteered his personal time to UVic events at every opportunity.
The university was saddened to learn recently of the passing of Bruce J. Partridge, former president of the University of Victoria, this August. Partridge’s term in office lasted just over two years, leading the university during an era of substantial upheaval.
Dallas Tomniuk, a valued staff member in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium, passed away May 22 following a motorcycle accident in Tofino. He was a gentle, kind, good-humoured and giving member of the UVic team, and will be greatly missed by all who knew and worked with him.
Dr. E. Patricia (“Paddy”) Tsurumi, historian and UVic professor emerita, died last month in her home on Hornby Island. Known for her thoroughly researched scholarship grounded in a strong sense of social justice, Paddy contributed to the history of women, education, colonialism and labour.
Few members of the UVic community, past or present, could claim the level of dedication to—and impact on—the university as Bob McQueen, who passed away March 18 at the age of 81. McQueen arrived before we were UVic, joining Victoria College as its chief accountant on March 1, 1962, then becoming the newly-minted University of Victoria’s first Bursar in 1963. In the early 1980s, he was appointed UVic’s vice-president of finance and chief financial officer (CFO), where he remained until his retirement at the end of 1992—after over 30 years at UVic’s financial helm.
Otfried Spreen, UVic professor emeritus of psychology (neuropsychology), died in Vancouver on Nov. 29, 2015, at the age of 89 years. Spreen played a leading role in establishing the graduate training program in neuropsychology and in running the Psy…
The Faculty of Fine Arts mourns the passing of inspirational teacher and invaluable colleague, School of Music professor Eugene Dowling. Following a 2013 diagnosis of prostate cancer, Dowling passed away at his home on June 30 with his family and close friends at hand.
An award-winning author, a publishing visionary, a pioneer in on-campus computing and an early writing department chair—David Godfrey was all this and so much more. The Department of Writing is saddened to announce the passing of this former professor at the age of 77.
The university flag will be lowered on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 in memory of Dr. Subhasis Nandi. Nandi was a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He passed away on Jan. 5, 2016.
Dr. Martha Farrell, a long-time associate of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) and the School of Public Administration, was killed May 13th in a Taliban terrorist attack on the Kabul guesthouse where she was staying. Farrell was in Afghanistan with the Aga Khan Foundation leading workshops on gender and anti-violence for Afghan locals and government officials.
The university lost a dear and valued member of the community on Monday, May 18 with the passing of Joyce Underwood. Underwood was a founding member of the Elders’ Voices program, which brings the stories, songs, language, culture and traditions of Indigenous communities to life at UVic and at Camosun College. Her involvement helped shape the program, bringing elders from local communities to guide students, staff, faculty and administration in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. She was well known for having a kind word and a smile for everybody she met, and supported the spirit, work and life of the university in ways that are difficult to count.
The university flag will be lowered on Thursday, May 14, 2015 in honour of Erma Richardson who passed away last September at age 95. Erma worked at UVic from 1966 to 1984. After retiring from the Registrar’s office, Erma volunteered for several years at the Learning Disabilities Association. A private memorial for family will be held on campus on Thursday.
Anthony H. Birch, who was Professor in UVic’s political science department from 1977 until 1989, and Chair from 1981 to 1986, passed away on Dec. 13, 2014 at the age of 90. Over the course of a long and distinguished career, he published numerous articles and 8 books—all single authored. His Representative and Responsible Government (1964) and later British System of Government (published in ten editions) remain central texts on UK politics and represent a particular tradition of British political studies, rooted in history and in the main canons of traditional political theory. He was also a student of comparative federalism, nationalism and regional integration. His books and articles on these subjects have been very relevant to contemporary debates in Britain about Scottish and Welsh devolution. His last book, The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy, was published in a revised third edition in 2007, when Tony was well into his 80s.
Daniel Bryant, Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria, passed away Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, with his wife Yixi Zhang at his bedside. He was 72 years old. Daniel taught at UVic for 32 years before his retirement in 2008. He came to what was then the Department of Slavonic and Oriental Studies, which became the Centre for Pacific and Oriental Studies, and subsequently the current department, of which he was the first chair.
Dr. John L. Climenhaga died on May 27 at home in Victoria. He was 91.
Longtime and much-loved instructor, filmmaker and writer Brian Hendricks passed away on August 11 at the age of 57. An alumnus of UVic’s Creative Writing program (he won the Petch Prize on his 1979 graduation), Brian taught at UVic as a Continuing Sessional from 1992 to 2011 in the Department of Writing and in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies.
