In Memoriam: Professor John Barratt
The Council and Management of SAIIA join in paying tribute to Professor John Barratt who died on the 8th August 2007, after a brave struggle with cancer.
John played a vital role in the development of the Institute over many years and held the position of Director from 1967 until his retirement in June 1994. He was appointed an Honorary Professor in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in May 1981.
During his tenure at Jan Smuts House the involvement of SAIIA in major international conferences raised the profile of the Institute considerably as did the expansion of its publication portfolio. Together with successive National Chairmen Harry Oppenheimer and Dr Conrad Strauss, John steered the Institute judiciously through the difficult years of apartheid. This was a period when the Institute was one of the few agencies where South Africans could be informed independently and objectively about international issues and could debate their impact on our country. As SAIIA we certainly became “South Africa’s Window on the World.”
The Institute sends its deepest condolences to his children and grandchildren.
Obituaries:
The Times (London)
