Rhodes University has paid tribute to its chancellor, Professor Jakes Gerwel, who died on Wednesday (November 28 2012).
The flags at Rhodes University are flying at half mast today in honour of its chancellor, Professor Gert Johannes Gerwel.
Gerwel, known to his colleagues, friends and South Africa at large as Jakes, died this morning in the Netcare Kuils River Hospital.
He had undergone heart surgery.
Rhodes University vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat issued a statement to the university community this morning paying tribute to Gerwel.
Badat wrote that one of the first messages of condolence he had received after news broke of Gerwel’s death was from a retired Rhodes academic who described the chancellor as “a good and great man” who would be “hard to replace”.
Badat said: “He will be fondly remembered and greatly missed as chancellor.
“A gentle man with a lively mind and intellect, he was always a source of wise counsel.”
Gerwel was appointed chancellor in 1999 and still held the position at the time of his death.
Rhodes alumni who graduated during his term will remember Gerwel in full academic garb, sitting front and centre during graduation ceremonies.
His job was to cap students as they crossed the stage, and he always had kind, softly spoken words as students rose after kneeling before him to be capped.
In its statement, the university offered some insight into Gerwel’s attitude towards institutions of higher learning in South Africa.
It quoted from Gerwel’s speech when he received an honorary doctorate from Rhodes and described universities as “both central agents for change and steady beacons of continuity and tradition”.
The university said the flags, which hang from its main administrative building – the South African flag and the university’s own – would fly at half mast until after Gerwel’s funeral.
Article by Natasha Joseph
Source: City Press
Picture: Yunus Mohamed/Foto24