Humble, brilliant Tobias ‘a scholar and a gentleman’

LEADING South African palaeo-anthropologist, Professor Phillip Tobias, who died yesterday, was “a scholar and a gentleman”, says the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) said.

“Phillip Tobias was truly a scholar and a gentleman, someone who was as loved for his kindness and humility as he was respected for his myriad academic achievements,” said spokeswoman Mary Kluk.

His death was the end of a distinguished era in the annals of South African scholarship.

Tobias had been a courageous, deeply principled campaigner for human rights, particularly in the area of academic freedom, said Kluk.

He was chosen to receive the SAJBD’s Human Rights Award in 2001. He was involved in the Jewish community throughout his life.

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) expressed sadness at the news of Tobias’s death.

He had been “a stalwart of the university and a worldrenowned scientist”, said Wits University spokeswoman, Shirona Patel.

Tobias was the recipient of many awards and honours, including honorary degrees from the universities of Pennsylvania, Cambridge, California, Western Ontario, Alta, Guelph (Canada), Natal, Cape Town, Unisa, Durban-Westville and the Witwatersrand.

The DA said Tobias would be “sorely missed”. “The deep impact he had on his colleagues and students, and the significant role he played in building South Africa’s most important capital – human capital – will be sorely missed,” said DA spokeswoman, Junita Kloppers-Lourens.

Gauteng Tourism Authority spokesman, Anthony Paton, said Tobias, who was born on October 14, 1925, had died at the Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Tobias, who was the only person to simultaneously hold three professorships at Wits, was known as a friendly, outgoing man, eloquent and able to explain his science to anyone. – Sapa