The Queen's College Record 2020

1990 he found his final home as a Professor (ordinario – a full tenured position) at
the University of Siena, where for three years he was director of the faculty of social
sciences and philosophy.
Obituaries
In the last decades of his life he wrote many essays and vignettes on Wittgensteinian
themes which, it is to be hoped, will be collected in a posthumous edition. His final
contribution to Wittgenstein studies was his edition of the philosopher’s family letters
(translated by Peter Winslow) in 2018. Some reviewers were disappointed by the fact
that only a quarter of the volume was written by Wittgenstein himself rather than by
other members of his family. But some other reviewers found it the warmest of the
publications of the philosopher’s letters.
McGuinness’s third marriage, in 2008, was to the Italian Giovanna Corsi, eventually
Professor of Logic at the University of Siena. She took care of him during his final
illness before his death in Florence.
Though a most meticulous scholar, McGuinness in person was far from a desiccated
pedant. He had a great sense of humour, and could lead one up a preposterous
garden path while keeping a perfectly straight face. He will be long remembered by all
those who knew him.
Originally published in The Telegraph (© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2020)
JOHN PEARSON
The quintessential 1960s jetsetter, my father spent a
large part of his life travelling to a multitude of countries,
working for the steel company, Richard Thomas and
Baldwin (RTB), which later was absorbed into the British
Steel Corporation. In his capacity as a sales executive
for tinplate he was able to spend time enjoying the
cultures and the languages of the places he visited
whilst surviving a military coup in South America, engine
failure over Vietnam and witnessing first hand some of
the events that shaped modern Europe, such as the
building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the Paris riots of 1968.
He was born in Mumbles, Swansea in 1928, an only child who quickly showed talent
both academically and on the sports field, particularly in hockey. After attending Dean
Close School he completed his National Service, just as the war ended, and in 1948
was accepted at Queen’s to study history, his favourite era being the Georgians. For a
man who appreciated elegance, wit and national pride this isn’t, perhaps, surprising.
In fact, it was his own sense of loss of national pride that ushered his departure from
Britain later in his life.
132 The Queen’s College | College Record 2020