Sir – While appreciations of the Hertford and Oxford University economist, Roger Van Noorden, who died on April 12, have appeared in the national press, nothing has yet appeared in The Oxford Times, which is regrettable given that Mr Van Noorden lived and worked in Oxford for 51 years.
Though I knew him only through his involvement with Hertford College international summer schools, a few words of tribute are I hope admissible.
As Ruth Deech, Matthew Reisz, and others have recounted, Roger Van Noorden came up to Hertford in 1959 and, but for one year at Nuffield, would remain there for half a century. He was by all accounts an inspiring and dedicated teacher, as I was able to observe in the talks he gave to Japanese and Chinese business and finance students.
His gentle wit and unshowy expertise effortlessly infused his words, even when having to explain the mechanisms of quantative easing.
As investment bursar at Hertford, he created and nurtured a brilliant portfolio which led to huge improvements in buildings and facilities, as the Folly Bridge Graduate Centre testifies.
After a lecture to a group of Shanghai business students last summer, he was asked what had guided his approach to the management of an investment portfolio, to which he replied ‘patience’ and a tendency to buy and sell 'against the trend', which his audience scribbled down and discussed at length.
For Oxford University students past, present, and future, gratitude must be paid to Roger Van Noorden for the inflation index which bears his name and which protects students from unreasonable college rent increases.
In 1974 he was one of those responsible for opening Hertford to women, one of the first men’s colleges so to do; and the Said Business School was brought into existence with considerable help from this patient, persistent, and most gifted fellow of Hertford.
Bruce Ross-Smith Headington
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here