John Walker Whiteside

University of Windsor Honours

Founder at Fall Convocation

A man who was instrumental in the creation of the University of Windsor, who was elected to the original Board of Governors, and who continues to serve students as a teacher and an example, was honored at the university's 76th Convocation, Saturday, October 13, 2001.

The University of Windsor conferred upon Professor Emeritus of Law John Whiteside

an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law Degree in recognition of five decades of service to the university, and to the community.

In the 1950s, John Whiteside went to Toronto with his father, Walker Whiteside

and Rhys Sale (then President of Ford of Canada), to negotiate the creation of Essex College, which would offer degree programs in business, pure and applied sciences and nursing in affiliation with Assumption University. He was then named to the Board of Governors of Essex College prior to the creation of the University of Windsor. When the public university was created by an act of the Ontario legislature in 1963, Professor Whiteside was elected as one of its founding Governors.

More than a decade later, in 1975, Professor Whiteside joined the University of Windsor as a professor after serving 25 years in the practice of law. He is now Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law. The Emeritus

title is reserved for outstanding professors who wish to continue at the university after retirement. In that capacity, he also serves as Senate Parliamentarian, a position that recognizes his expertise in parliamentary

procedure and good judgment.

At the university, his tremendous impact on the many students whom he has taaught is widely known, if not legendary. One former student commented that, "Professor Whiteside has been a role model of

professional responsibility for thousands of us. We, in turn, will pass that on. I cannot imagine a more significant contribution to our legal profession."

"Knowledge, experience, wit and wisdom - Dr. John Whiteside's contribution to the

University of Windsor is virtually impossible to measure," says University of Windsor President Ross Paul. "We are proud to

bestow this degree upon such a distinguished elder statesman among our

ranks."

Throughout his career, he has devoted a great deal of his expertise and energies to

community service. Some examples:

Professor Whiteside was a long-standing member and chair of the Windsor Police Services Commission and chaired the Ontario Municipal Police Authority;

Professor Whiteside was instrumental in arranging for and negotiating the complex

and difficult merger between IODE Western Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital into

Windsor Regional. He then became the

founding Chair of the new hospital;

Professor Whiteside served as Chair of the Windsor Media Council -the first established

press council in Canada; and he has also held many positions in the Anglican Church.

David Wurfel

Professor Emeritus of Political Science, and presently Senior Research Associate, Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, York

University of Toronto will be a visiting

professor at the University of Hawaii in the winter term, filling the Arthur Lynn Andrews Chair in Asian and Pacific Studies, teaching mostly on the Philippines. He also gave a paper at the European Philippine Studies meeting at Alcala de Henares, Spain, in September.

In Memoriam

Dr. E. Martin Basic - 82 of Windsor passed away at home of natural causes on September 26, 2001. Survived by two daughters and a son and three grand children. He was a retired professor from the Faculty of Business Administration. He was a World War II and Korean War veteran and past president of the Greater Windsor Foundation and a member of the White Hats Veterans Club.

Dr. Ripu Daman Singh - died suddenly on September 30, 2001 at the Windsor Regional Hospital.He is survived by his dear wife Joan and many nephews and nieces. He was Professor Emeritus - Biological Anthropology, in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a Fellow of the Human Biology Association. He was the recipient of the Majumdar Memorial Gold Medal (1998) for continued research and publications in Biological Anthropology during his 40 years of active career and research assignments in India and Canada and commitment to field work. He was the author of several books, one of which received the Birbal Sahni Award for scientific publications in Hindi. He joined the University of Windsor Sociology and Anthropology Department in 1970 and retired in 1993. He received his Master's degree from the University of Lucknow, India and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.

Major Sunil Gupta - husband of Professor Emeritus Anna Gupta, a former Director of the School of Nursing, passed away on November 7, 2001 peacefully. He was 94 years old and a dentist by profession, who retired from the Indian Army, and followed his wife to Windsor, Canada, where she took up the position in the School of Nursing. Major Gupta was a very disciplined man and remained physically active until a few years ago, when he would do a six-mile daily walk from his home to the Windsor Public Library. He was a very sociable and witty person and a highly respected person of the Windsor community.