Tribute to Dr Henry Lewis
A tribute to Dr Lewis from the SA Jewish Report download the PDF »
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Dr Harold Kalley
From UCT News
The well-known and respected UCT graduate Dr HA (Harold) Kalley died in Pietermaritzburg in June, aged 95. Kalley was born in Cape Town and educated at SACS where he was a top pupil. He obtained a medical degree at UCT and did his housemanship at Grey's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. After World War 2, during which he served in the Medical Corps, Kalley went into private practice in Pietermaritzburg, serving the community for more than 50 years. His patients remember him for his care, concern and expertise. He was then predeceased by his wife, and survived by his children Jaqui, Claudia and Martin, and three grandchildren. (Courtesy Natal Witness)
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A Tribute to Geoff Dennis (’36)
by Doug Brown (Former SACS Teacher)
Since it is over 40 years since Geoff left the SACS staff because of ill health, those who remember him are shrinking in numbers; of his staff colleagues, I am the only one left that worked with him in the ‘fifties’; but I wish to honour him for the role he played at SACS in those early Whitefordian days. Robin Whiteford, in his mission to restore SACS to its former glory, kept a steady hand on the work of his staff, and very few passed his critical eye unscathed, as he groomed and moulded them. But Geoff always had a clear purpose in his geography teaching, and this one could read in his stride as he approached his classes. He was, unobtrusively, a good team man, as he made his contributions to cricket-coaching, stage-set building, organizing a junior library, or running the famous SACS mountain club; Geoff loved the outdoors, and working with his hands.
His SACS career started in 1933 as a newboy, and ended in the sixties as a respected senior member of staff. In 1934 he was a junior memorial scholarship winner, and elected a school prefect in 1935/36. Amongst his contemporaries were SACS icons such as Jack Cheetham, Tom Hugo-Hamman, and Sid Kiel.
It is no wonder, then, that 15 years later he was to return to continue his service to the school, after gaining early teaching experience in the Eastern Province.
I remember him as a very conscientious man in all that he did; he earned the respect of the boys because of it. He set himself and his pupils very high standards. Those he did not teach will remember his frustrated “No-oh-oh” response to a wrong answer, as it echoed along the school corridors of Orange Street and Newlands. That memory echoes affectionately amongst the memories of those that knew him, still.
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A Tribute to Buntu Majalaza (’00) - 5 March 1982 - 6 January 2008
by A Bryant (Former SACS Teacher)
IBuntu Majalaza (’00) epitomized the very essence of ubuntu. In all aspects of his life he was kind, thoughtful, generous, loyal and impeccably respectful. I had the privilege of teaching this exceptional young man from Grade 10 to 12 and then had the pleasure of reconnecting with him again as a fellow student at UCT in 2006.
From the outset I admired Buntu’s unrelenting determination to succeed. Such was his determination at SACS that he was known to be seated and working in Rosedale at his study desk five minutes after the end of school. Buntu thus obtained an excellent matric pass and graduated from UCT with a degree in organisational psychology.
Buntu was also a committed Christian who stood his ground on issues of principle and embraced life, work and family. He had many friends from diverse backgrounds with whom he happily shared his knowledge and wisdom. I, for one, will be eternally grateful for the assistance and encouragement he gave me, his Xhosa teacher, and for his patience in answering my many questions. He also generously provided me with notes which I still use today. Thus was the nature of this exceptional young man.
I feel privileged to have known Buntu and to have spent time in the presence of someone who truly would have made South Africa and the world a better place. Hamba ngoxolo bhuti! Siyakukhumbula!
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Louis Greenblatt ('71) - A Tribute
By Trevor Zabow
30/10/1953 - 17/02/2008
Louis - As he should be remembered !
John Ince (’54), Louis Greenblatt (’71), Jackie Ince (’97)
It is midway through the second half at Twickenham in December 2004 – Intervarsity – Oxford v Cambridge. The stands are full. There is a lull in play as a Cambridge reserve forward comes off the bench. The drone of the crowd is momentarily subdued. And then the silence is broken by a piercing scream. All eyes are drawn to a largish man standing in the middle of the main stand with arms raised and shouting with the biggest smile imaginable.
“THAT’S MY BOY”, he cries. He points to the field, shouts a bit more and then everyone around him understands. Some shake his hand and pat him on the back.
Louis Greenblatt’s son, Jared, has just taken the field for Cambridge and Louis cannot help himself sharing his joy with 45,000 strangers.
Tragically, Louis passed away in Israel on 17 February 2008, only 54 years old. He had been critically ill for the previous few weeks. And to add to the poignancy, he and wife Merle, his childhood sweetheart, had only just “made Aliyah” (migrated to Israel) after about 15 years in England.
In the end it was heart failure, amongst many complications. How is that possible? How can that be? Everyone speaks of his “enormous heart”, his “heart of gold”, his “generosity”, his “love for his family and friends”, his ”love of life and all its challenges”. How could it have been his heart? Was it stretched too far? Maybe his world-wide network of family and friends he loved so much, and constant business travel, took too much out of him.
For the past 15 years, Louis lived in England, but continued to passionately support his beloved Bokke. How he smiled on 20 October last, when they won the World Cup final, believe it or not, on his son’s birthday.
Louis grew up in Hiddingh Estate not far from SACS, the school he loved. He matriculated there in 1971 and continued to live by the SACS motto spectamur agenda – we are judged by our deeds. He was a great sportsman, excelling in both cricket and rugby. He continued his rugby with Hamiltons and Kappies Kasuals. Louis would not mind me saying he never troubled the examiners at school. Academia was not “his thing”. So ironic therefore, to have a son completing a Doctorate at Cambridge and a daughter, Romy, with a Masters from Edinburgh University.
But Louis had different talents and developed into a successful business man with interests stretched far and wide. So much travel required, and never complaining. Always smiling.
And what about the CyberClub? Louis’s early friendships, forged on the beaches and sports fields, galvanised in an email group – the CyberClub - spanning South Africa, Australia, England, USA and Canada. Started by Stephen Kaplan of Kappies Kasuals fame and including 14 (sadly now 13) ex-SACS boys plus a few other very closely bonded friends, spread throughout the world.
All CyberClubbers have been in daily email contact for many years and all are now utterly devastated by Louis’s untimely passing. They are thinking of Merle, Jared and Romy, Louis’s mother Fanny, and his sisters Glenda and Nanette. And thinking, too, about what the CyberClub will be like without Louis Greenblatt, or their beloved BBL “(Big Bad Lou”). May he rest in peace.
By Trevor Zabow,
on behalf of the CyberClub and other ex-SACS friends of Louis
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