In Memoriam

Professor emeritus Geoffrey Hainsworth

1934 – 2011

Geoffrey HainsworthGeoffrey was born in Bramley, Yorkshire. In 1952 he received a state scholarship to attend the University of London, graduating from the London School of Economics in 1954 and receiving the Allyn Young Honours Prize. A Fullbright Scholars grant enabled him to obtain his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, his thesis being classical theories of overseas development, a subject he pursued throughout his working life. He taught at Harvard from 1958 to 1960 while supervising the study program for foreign service fellows under the Harvard Development Advisory Service, along with participation in Pakistan’s Second Five‑Year Plan. He spent 1960 to 1965 as a research fellow and instructor at the Australian National University in Canberra, with research work in Papua New Guinea. His three children were born in Canberra. Returning to the US, he taught at Williams College in Massachusetts while supervising specially selected mature foreign student fellows at the Centre for Economic Development. Geoffrey started his career at UBC in 1968, where he founded the Centre for Southeast Asia Studies, retiring as its director in 2001. He was one of a select Canadian Educators Group invited in 1976 to visit institutions in China. He organized the first international conference for Southeast Asian Studies in 1979 and was twice elected president of the Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies. He was greatly respected and valued by colleagues in Canada and abroad, having lived in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam working with their governmental agencies and their universities. Dedicated to equality, justice and compassion, he touched the lives of many. Learning, understanding and laughter was his way.