Passings: Professor Emeritus John S. Saul

Professor Saul joined York University in 1973 and taught for 35 years in the Atkinson Department of Social Science and LAPS Department of Political Science (as it was then known) until reaching age 70 in 2008. He was a world-renowned scholar, as well as a passionate advocate for social justice, who inspired colleagues and students, as well as those outside the walls of academia, with his rigorous analysis and passion. 

He was a preeminent scholar on the politics of southern Africa, particularly in regard the liberation struggles in that region during the 20^th century. His scholarly output is prodigious: more than 20 academic books, more than 70 book chapters, more than 80 refereed journal articles and more than 180 conference publications.  

Professor Saul was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; the recipient of honorary degrees from universities in Canada and Africa; and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Association of African Studies. 

Not only did Professor Saul conduct groundbreaking and internationally recognized research, but he was also in the forefront of working towards social change in southern Africa, active both on that continent (teaching there, cumulatively, for a decade). In Canada, he founded the Toronto Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa and remained active in that Committee’s wide range of activities for three decades. One of the initiators of the progressive Canadian journal This Magazine he served with it for more than a decade as a key writer and editor.