My Four Decades as a UCT Fund Board Member in the U.S. What first inspired me and why did I stay so long?

Without a doubt, the driving force of my involvement with the UCT Fund Board was the late Dr. Stuart Saunders.   Stuart, a young UCT medical professor back in the early 1960s, also served as Sub-warden of University House, a residence (which no longer exists) that housed mainly mature students at UCT.  During my time in the residence between 1961 and 1963, I also served on the Residence House Committee and had the chance to get to know Stuart and his wife quite well.  Neither he nor I knew then how our respective lives would unfold.

Almost 20 years later, in1982, by which time I was an established investment banker in New York, I received notification that Stuart, who had recently been appointed Vice Chancellor of UCT, would be giving the Annual Guest Lecture at my high school, Hilton College.   I wrote him a congratulatory note.  He responded immediately by advising me that the University was setting up a U.S. UCT Fund to be chaired by the famous Dr. Alan Pifer, requesting that I please join as Vice Chairman.

So it was that in 1982 I began my involvement with the UCT Fund.    We brought on a U.S. lawyer to help set up the Fund but it still took more than two years for the Fund to become operational – at the time there were several concerns about becoming involved with a University that was perceived as being regulated by the South African Nationalist Party -despite Stuart’s significant activities to seek to open the university to a broader student body.

I have enjoyed my time with the Board and stayed for as long as I did as I felt I should do so for as long as I could be helpful and relevant.  Now that I am 84 years old, that time has now come to an end.  However, I will continue to provide $3,000.00 each year while I am alive and able to do so, as a small scholarship to a deserving student, as decided by UCT.

History of the Board

In the early days, the Board included as many as 12 representatives from senior members of the South African community, led by Alan Pifer, who had an interest in the University becoming representative of the full South African population – not a priority at the time of the then Nationalist Party that was in power in the country.

One of the biggest challenges during my time on the Board was the changing nature of the South African environment and UCT‘s place within the changing environment.   In the early days, our mission was clear – to seek to attract non-white students to have the opportunity to obtain an education and success at UCT.   Despite difficulties with the South African authorities, the University made important progress in this regard, in no small measure because of the courage and determination of Stuart Saunders.  

In the early 1990s, Nelson Mandela came out of prison to become the first Black Prime Minister of South Africa, to the relief of many.   Ironically, as far as UCT was concerned, although his arrival was very well received, there appeared initially to be more focus on supporting the fully Black universities, like Fort Hare, rather than universities, like UCT, which were still significantly white.  Over the years, things shifted and UCT, now a significantly non-white university, looks for support from both within South Africa and around the world to further its aims.

One of the proudest milestones during my time on the Board was when I returned to UCT at the time that the Chancellor of the University, Graca Machel, the third wife of Nelson Mandela, addressed the University, with Nelson Mandela sitting in the audience.

My UCT experience    

I came to UCT in 1961, having just turned 20, with a first-class B.Sc. Degree in Chemistry (together with two other majors – Physics and Applied Mathematics) from the University of Natal.  Before that I had attended Hilton College in Natal on a Scholarship, where I obtained a First Class Matric at the age of 15 years.    I took a year off after high school to work as a Lab Assistant for National Cooperative Dairies, and wa then awarded the Old Hiltonian Scholarship, by Hilton College, to help with my studies at Natal University.  I was also awarded a South African Breweries Scholarship to provide additional assistance.  My reason for coming to UCT was to complete studies for the B.Sc. Chemical Engineering Degree as, at the time, Chemical Engineering appeared to have a broader array of future employment options than a Chemistry degree.

While at UCT I continued my interest in grass hockey, playing for the 3rd team and occasionally for the 2nd team.  I also took up rowing and participated in the Intervarsity Regatta in Vereeniging, where my UCT Boat was one of the winning teams.   I also served as Treasurer of the UCT Golf Committee.    During my second year at UCT, I ran for the UCT Students’ Representative Council and was somewhat surprised to find that I ranked fourth among the 15 elected members, in terms of votes received.    While on the SRC, I served as President of the UCT- University of Stellenbosch Intervarsity Committee and was responsible for the annual rugby matches played between the two universities.   I also served on the University House Committee and the Annual RAG committee.

Taking in to account that more than 60 years have passed since my UCT days, my list of friends remaining from that time has shrunk, but Clive Grossman, who became a very successful barrister in Hong Kong, Jeremy Wood now living in Perth, Australia, Will Crews, living in London, Paddy Browne in Auckland, New Zealand, Fred Sexsmith in Vancouver, Canada and John Bewsey my chemical engineering classmate living and still working in Northern Transvaal, are all people I stay in touch with.

 Life after UCT

Soon before leaving UCT, I decided that I wanted to apply for a scholarship to continue my studies abroad.    I applied for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford and to three oil company scholarships that provided for postgraduate studies at universities in the United States, the U.K. and Paris, France.   The first of these I heard back from was Total Oil Company in Paris.  They invited me for an interview in Johannesburg and some days later advised me that I would be awarded the 1964 Total Oil Scholarship for postgraduate studies at the French Petroleum Institute in Paris.  Since I have always believed that one should give serious consideration to an actual offer, I accepted the award of the scholarship for almost two years in Paris, with all expenses paid.    It proved to be one of the best decisions I have made.   I arrived in Paris in early 1964 and underwent several months of learning the French language (as, in South Africa, I had only learned Afrikaans as a second language).  I then began my studies at the Institute – all conducted in French!   Paris will forever remain my favourite city to visit.    I obtained my Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering in mid-1965, after which I was fortunate to spend a wonderful year at Cambridge University studying the Principles of Industrial Management to help prepare me for my career as a Project Engineer.  After my time at Cambridge I spent almost three months, courtesy of a travel scholarship, working and travelling around the U.S.  (I actually rode a Greyhound Bus for nearly 17,000 miles during my visit as, in those days, foreign students could travel for $1 per day for 90 days!)   This was my first exposure to the United States and little did I realise then that it would become my home for most of the rest of my life.

I spent three happy years working as a Chemical Engineer, based in London, working on projects located throughout England and Scotland as well as abroad.   Increasingly, I learned that my best skills were associated with ensuring that the projects were completed on time and were profitable for the company I worked for in London.   This was probably the major reason I felt that I would be well served by obtaining an MBA from a recognised American Business School.  I decided to apply to four of them – Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, and Columbia.   I was surprised and pleased to learn that all four accepted me.   I very nearly went to Stanford – the sunny climes of California were appealing.   However, in the end, I went to Harvard Business School.   Three main things happened during my two years at Harvard.    I was fortunate to receive my MBA Degree with distinction (helpful for obtaining jobs on Wall Street); I made friends with several classmates who have remained friends to this day and importantly, in Boston, I met Barbara - the girl whom I would marry and has been part of my life for the past 55 years.

Shift from engineering to investment banking

During the next twenty years I worked for three investment banking firms.   First was Smith, Barney, run by blue-blood Wasps.  With them I worked, both in New York and also spent a year in Tokyo (wonderful experience).  We also spent three months travelling through Southeast Asia on our way back to New York.  I was promoted to Second Vice President but then hired away by Salomon Brothers -a firm mainly run by Jewish bankers.   I spent six years with Salomon Brothers, including time spent in the firm’s London Office.   Salomon Brothers, where I was promoted to Vice President, had been a great firm but started to have some problems and thus it was that I was hired away as a Managing Director by Merrill Lynch, a major firm headed at the time by Irish Catholics.  where I spent the next ten years.   Along the way I worked with important clients in North America, Continental Europe, Asia, and South America.

I continued to enjoy investment banking work through the firm I subsequently created – Cross Border Enterprises, L.L.C., working together with a team on smaller companies financial and merger/acquisition needs.   I also served for a further 16 years on the boards of several companies in the U.S. and in India – including Lyondell Corporation which, at the time, had Revenues of $45 Billion.  I also continued my involvement with a number of non-profit organizations in addition to the UCT Fund, including acting as Chairman of the British North America Fund which enabled over 700 U.S. students to spend a post-matric year at major British schools – including Eton, Winchester and Harrow among others, and have over the years also hosted dinners at the Harvard Club in New York attended by the various Headmasters and several golf tournaments for the alumni of Hilton College living in or visiting America.

Also, in the early 1980s Barbara and I produced two wonderful sons – John and Phil, now in their forties and both happily married and both enjoying very successful careers in the technology field.   They have also produced three young and charming granddaughters for us.   After retiring from the investment banking world in 2015 and moving to Saint Petersburg, Florida into a very pleasant lake facing home, Barbara and I have time to spend visiting our children in Austin, Texas, and meeting up with friends across the country and in other parts of the world. 

Travelling all seven continents of the world

Last year Barbara and I undertook a 4 ½ month cruise around the word with Viking Cruise Line.   March and April this year saw us go with Viking to Antarctica on the edge of the South Pole and around Latin America, coming back through the Panama Canal.  As a consequence, we have now spent time on all seven continents of the world.   We continue to look forward to future trips to Europe and Asia as well as continuing to meet with friends around the world.

Living and working, as I have on four continents, has led me to believe that, for the most part, people everywhere would like to have the opportunity to lead useful and beneficial lives.   (This is not to say that there are not quite a few “bad eggs” around the world, but I do firmly believe that, given the opportunity, most people would like to live useful and productive lives).  It will also fall to many of the super-rich to play a major role in providing funding and support for education and philanthropy in the world as it unfolds, while numerous other well-educated and lesser educated people will be called upon to play their part.

I continue to have friends from my university days still living in Cape Town, Natal and Johannesburg and have visited them on several occasions in recent years although it is, understandably, becoming a little more difficult to do so in light of our current ages.

 My legacy, generosity, and the future of the Board 

As long as I am alive and capable of doing so, I will continue to give a small annual scholarship of $3,000.00 to a student of merit.  UCT gave me an important start in life, and I am happy, as I have done for many years, to give back to the extent I am able.    Hopefully, many other students, past and present, have similar views.

UCT has the benefit of being one of the finest universities in Africa.  As such, and in order to maintain this ranking, it remains important that the next generation of alumni, donors and volunteers continue to give back to the University that, in many cases such as mine, gave them an important start in life.

During my 40 + years on the UCT Board, I have seen it go through various stages.  As in all businesses and educational activities, change is often constant. What worked well at some point may no longer do so, and vice versa.   What does remain constant, however, for a top-quality University is that standards need to be maintained and students encouraged to give of their best.   I also believe that it is important for all universities in every country to recognise that a university education is a privilege, but not necessarily best suited for everyone.    Increasingly, there is a growing demand for graduates of trade schools and other forms of practical activity.

 Hope for what the next generation of Board Members will carry forward:

My hope is that the next generation of Board Members will continue to give students who could not otherwise afford to study the opportunity to be at UCT.    At the same time, students who are given such an opportunity have an obligation to give of their best both with their studies and within the university.  

 Advice for those stepping into leadership roles today.

The world is a complicated place.  It is now 80 years since the last World War.   There are tensions building in Russia and China and many smaller “disturbances” around the world.  South Africa itself has its own problems.   The next group of leaders, including those involved with UCT, will need to remain very focused in seeking to do what is best for the University and for its students, and to use whatever funds are or become available, wisely.  At times, this may involve enacting policies and conducting activities that, although they certainly need to be law-abiding, may not always fit comfortably with other groups in the country.

 UCT’s future - what excites me most about the university’s direction?

UCT has clearly already stood the test of time since its founding and remains a top-quality institution within Africa and the world.  Maintaining and further growing this reputation in the years ahead is a key factor that excites me about the University. I hope and trust it will do so and, in particular, keep standards high.

Personal Reflections

It is more than 60 years since I graduated from UCT and, as is evident, I have been privileged to have lived, studied and worked on various continents and gotten to know a number of very interesting people along the way.    It was at UCT that I first really grew into the person that I became. For that, I will always be grateful and hope that my involvement over the years confirms that.

If I had the opportunity to begin life at UCT all over again, as I did in 1961, having just turned 20, I would counsel the young David Meachin to make the most of his time there – and reach for the stars and be sure to give back for the privileges he enjoyed. I like to feel that, at least to some extent, I have been able to do so.