Professor Emeritus Alastair Kerr SC sadly passed away this week. Professor Kerr was appointed Lecturer in Law at Rhodes at the beginning of 1955. His association with Rhodes goes back to 1939, when he enrolled, just before the Second World War, for a BA degree, which he completed in 1941. He had thus been connected with Rhodes for a period of just over 70 years.
After war service in the Navy from 1942 to 1946, Prof Kerr obtained his LLB degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1948. He then spent six years in the then Department of Native Affairs, finally as Assistant Magistrate and Assistant Native Commissioner, Keiskammahoek, before accepting the post at Rhodes. In 1960 he was awarded his LLM by the University of Natal and, subsequent to his promotion to Professor of Law in 1968, he obtained his PhD in 1972 from the same university.
Professor Kerr acted as Head of Department and as Dean on various occasions in his career at Rhodes before assuming both posts in a permanent capacity: Head of Department from 1984 to 1987, and Dean of Law from 1984 to 1990. Early in his career, Professor Kerr served 15 years as Warden of Graham House and later he served on numerous committees of Senate. He was the Senate representative on the University Council for 12 years, was called upon to act as Vice-Principal on various occasions, and even acted as Vice-Chancellor for short periods during Dr Henderson’s Vice-Chancellorate, when the senior office bearers of the university were away from town.
A prolific writer, Professor Kerr’s academic work concentrated on the fields of contract law and customary law. He wrote several monographs, some of which are ranked as the leading works in their fields in South African law, and which have run to many editions. He also had to his name well over 100 publications in accredited journals. He retired towards the end of 1990 after 35 years of active service to the University and the Faculty of Law, and the University bestowed the title Emeritus Professor upon him at that point, later to be followed by the honorary title of Distinguished Fellow of the University.
The thought of retiring to do other things did not ever cross his mind: he retained an office in the Law Faculty, and he continued to research and write daily until just six weeks ago, when he went into hospital. His outstanding contribution to legal education and to the law in general was recognised on two separate occasions. The first was in 1993 when the State President appointed him as Senior Counsel, one of only ten academics in the history of this country to have been accorded such an honour. The second was in 1995, when Rhodes University conferred upon him the LLD degree honoris causa, an honour that had also been bestowed upon his father, Dr Alexander Kerr, in 1961. Alexander was the founding Principal of the University of Fort Hare; an indication of how the Kerr family has been inextricably linked with education in the Eastern Cape for almost a century.
Over and above his service to the University, Professor Kerr has also played a prominent role in the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, both within the local Trinity congregation as well as on various national committees of the Church.