In Memoriam - Chris Duke

It is with great sadness that we report of the death of one of the leading lights of adult education of the 20th and 21st century, Professor Chris Duke. Chris, amongst many other positions was a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow, and made extensive practical and conceptual contributions to PASCAL over the past two decades.

Chris was, of course, in 2002 the founding secretary-general of the PASCAL Observatory [1] which CR&DALL [2] hosts in Europe, and later became the Secretary-General of PIMA (PASCAL International Member Association). Until last year he edited its Bulletin, and issue 47 attached celebrates his life.

His career, the details of which are in the bulletin together with many reflections from friends and colleagues, was stellar in its achievements. He will be remembered for his intellect, tenacity and hard-work, but most of all for his consistent advocacy for the social justice role of universities. Many of us heard about his death during last week’s Higher Education Reform conference in Glasgow.  I had made a reference to his book, the Adult University (with Etienne Bourgeois, Jean-Luc Guyot, and Barbara Merrill) during a paper session just a few minutes before the news arrived.

We had previously planned to take a group photograph and send messages to him in Australia, but sadly we were not operating at Chris’s fearsome pace. However, one of his close friends Professor Maria Slowey was able to make a tribute to his work at the conference with as a backdrop Chris presenting at the 2019 PASCAL conference in Korea [3].

Chris will be greatly missed by all who knew him, and we offer our condolences to Liz and the rest of his family.