Univ Record 2017

1950
JOHANNES JACOBUS FAGAN (University of Cape Town) died on 28 October 2014
aged 87. Having graduated from Cape Town with BA and LLB degrees, Hannes Fagan
studied Law at Univ, where he received a BCL, and on his return to Cape Town joined
the Cape Bar. He took silk in 1971, and in 1974 was appointed an acting judge of the
Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court.
In 1977 Hannes Fagan was appointed a Judge in the Cape Provisional Division, and
in 1992 he became Deputy Judge President of the Cape. During the state of emergency in
the 1980s, Fagan as a judge was able to visit detainees, and at the same time braved official
disapproval to attend a meeting in Oxford with members of the liberation movement, in
the period before the negotiations which led to democracy in South Africa. Fagan was
for many years a member of NICRO, an organisation dealing with crime prevention and
the integration of prisoners, and from 1979-84 was chairman of the board of the Institute
of Criminology at the University of Cape Town.
In April 2000 he was appointed Inspecting Judge of Prisons, a post he held with
distinction until his retirement in 2006. He was openly critical of the poor conditions
and the overcrowding which he found in South African prisons, campaigning against
the unnecessary incarceration of so many inmates held there.
Fagan was honoured in his later years with honorary degrees from the Universities
of Cape Town and the Western Cape, and on his death the National Assembly recorded
that it “salutes his pioneering work in prison reform initiatives”.
Outside work, Fagan was a keen mountaineer, regularly climbing Table Mountain.
He was also a serious runner, taking part in several marathons, and a keen motorcyclist
and pilot, and much involved in the Cape Town Rotary Club for many years.
A colleague, Gerald Friedman, wrote: “Hannes Fagan will be remembered by many
different people and by many different organisations with which he was involved, each
for their own reason, but it is his zest for life and what his family has referred to as his
generosity of spirit that essentially encapsulate his unique personality, and is for this that
he will be remembered by all with whom he came into contact.”
Hannes Fagan leaves a widow, Sheila, and three sons, Johan, Eduard, and Anton [we
are very grateful to Eduard Fagan for supplying the information for this tribute.]
JEFFREY STANSFIELD HOWLES (RGS Newcastle) died on
September 6th 2016 aged 86. He read PPE at Univ but his
great passion was rowing. He was stroke of the Univ 1952
and 1953 summer 1st VIII’s (each of which made 4 bumps),
stroke of the 1953 Univ IV (which won the OUBC IV’s)
and stroke of the 1953 Oxford Blue Boat. A Daily Mirror
journalist at the time concluded her feature on the Blue
Boat crew with the words: “The one who came tops with
me was Jeffrey Howles. He has physique and good looks.
But it was the gleam in his eye that rated an A certificate” (a
description that always amused but pleased him).
Following graduation Jeff moved to Canada as an oil
industry economist before emigrating to California in 1959
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and joining the Bank of America. He was subsequently posted back to London in 1963,
where for 16 years he held senior positions in international banking covering the UK,
Europe and Africa. He then started a new career in Executive Search, from which he
retired in 1985. In his later years he lived in Herefordshire with his second wife, Lisbet,
who died in 2008, and until shortly before his death continued to enjoy foreign travel and
in particular meeting up and corresponding with his many friends from Univ.
Jeff was a Univ man through and through. In 1986 he commissioned the portrait of
John Wild for the College. He and his first wife, Joaquina, were married in the Univ
Chapel and his son Chris was christened there. Gwynne Ovenstone was a family friend
who introduced his son Geoff (who also went to Univ) to his future wife (herself the
daughter of an alumnus). But it was primarily through rowing that he maintained his
links with the College; he was the driving force behind annual outings for the 1952/53
VIIIs on the Isis for many years and was also a leading light in organising reunions of the
crews at Henley each year.
Jeff is survived by his two sons Geoff and Chris. His daughter, Pandora, died in 2009.
[We are most grateful to Geoff and Chris Howles for supplying this obituary.]
1951
PATRICK “PADDY” THOMAS CORRIS LEWIN (Eton) died on 29 August 2016 aged
85. John Davenport (1951) has kindly sent this tribute:
After prep school in Kenya, Paddy followed his father and grandfather to Eton and
came directly to Univ. At Univ we shared rooms for our first two years and after two
terms Paddy switched from PPE to History. He was given the same essay subjects as me,
and was able to read my essays. Unsurprisingly, the dons did not recall having already
heard the same pearls of wisdom. He achieved a third and stayed on to obtain a Diploma
of Education. Having won the Chess Cup at Eton, Paddy played in the University chess
team and continued to play successfully through most of his life.
After leaving Oxford he taught at Truro Cathedral School and then returned to
Kenya to teach at Alliance High School in Kikuyu. Alliance was a boarding school for
boys from protestant mission schools, a job he clearly relished.
Early in 1960 when I was in Kampala, Paddy
telephoned and asked whether I would like to be
his co-driver in the East African Safari: a four day
rally. Paddy’s car was a Peugeot 203, much smaller
than most of the other 80 cars, but he was an
excellent driver and we finished in the top 20. In ‘66
my family and I were in Kenya when riots erupted
in Uganda and Paddy looked after my wife, Wendy,
and three small children at Alliance while I flew to
Kampala. When order had been restored he drove
my family to Kampala.
After 12 years, Alliance sponsored Paddy to go
to Union Seminary in New York. His year there
caused him to question his beliefs which created
a problem at Alliance so he came to England. He
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