The University of the West Indies is saddened by the death of Mr. Herman I. McKenzie, retired Senior Lecturer and former Head of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mona Campus, on December 25, 2004.

A Guyanese national, Herman McKenzie graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science with the Bachelor of Science degree with Upper Second Class Honours in Sociology. He joined the staff of The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in 1966 as Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1977. He also served as Head of Department from 1974-1980. Other positions held include Sociologist with the Epidemiological Research Unit in Jamaica of the British Medical Research Council (1962 –1966) and Supernumerary Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (now the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies).

In 1973, he was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Fellowship and assumed the post of Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago. He was also a Fulbright Lecturer at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1981.

Mr. McKenzie developed a reputation as an excellent teacher, focusing on the areas of Sociological Theory, Caribbean Society and Culture, the Sociology of Development, Introductory Sociology and Sociology for Medical Students. In later years he concentrated on detailed studies and teaching on Caribbean Social Thought, including Edward Blyden and Marcus Garvey.

His research interests covered the migration of Indians overseas, Society, Culture and Health in the Caribbean Family, Tourism, Law and Society and Rural Electrification. In 1984, he visited the British Virgin Islands as a population consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and in 1988 he visited Belize for family planning research. He also undertook a successful collaborative study on Animal Husbandry in Jamaica.

Herman McKenzie also had a strong record of public service. He was for 20 years a member of the Editorial Committee and Book Review Editor for Social and Economic Studies, and was External Examiner in the Department of Sociology, University of Guyana.

Mr. McKenzie is survived by his widow, Mrs. Hermione McKenzie, retired Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, two sons, Colin and Neil, and three grandsons.
A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Herman McKenzie will be held on Thursday, January 6, 2004 at the University Chapel, beginning at 2.00 p.m.
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