Wits Chem Eng & Met Class of 1980 Reunion Book

t e M & g n E m e Wits Ch

CLASS OF 1980

Richard Ward Building and Campus

A YEARBOOK LIKE NO OTHER! This special edition marks the 45th anniversary of the Chemical Engineering and Metallurgical graduates who studied at Wits between 1977 and 1980-THE CLASS OF 1980 Compiled nearly half a century after graduation, this yearbook reflects the unique journey of a class where only a third completed their studies in the traditional four years. As a result, it embraces students from multiple graduating years—hence the five cover photos!

The stories shared on these pages are a testament to the exceptional education we received at Wits and the remarkable entrepreneurial spirit of our classmates. Alongside these achievements, we also take a moment to remember those who left us too soon.

Our upcoming reunion in September 2025 has been met with incredible enthusiasm, with half the class making long-haul journeys to be there. We hope it will reignite friendships, spark new connections, and bring back cherished memories.

ENJOY THE READ AND THE MEMORIES!

TABLE OF CONTENTS From Rodney Jones’ class photos, we identified our “core” Chem Eng and Metallurgy classmates from the “Class of 1980” who started from 1975 and graduated until 1982. Some* could not be located - please share their details if you have.

We are very grateful for the personal contributions made to this book!

First name

Surname

Adrian Adrian Alan Alan Anthony Barrie Bill Brett Bruce Bruce Charles Charles Chris Chris Corrie Dallas David David David Eric Eric (Ed) Felix Gareth George

Ferramosca Marini Charnock * Field Hearn Cole Barrett Morris Bailie McIntosh * Mitchell * Wade Bijsterveld Gross* van der Merwe van der Wath Baillie Gale Stewart Woods Steel * Danninger Campbell Louw*

Page 6 8 10 5 5 5 12

5 14 16 18

First name

Surname

Greg Greg Greg Guy Irene Javier Joe Joel John Jon John Jose Kenny Kevin Kevin Kevin Larry Louise Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark

Anderson Herder * Wurts Leven-Marcon Cullum Kirigin Iorio Kopinsky Derbyshire Hardy Visser Rodrigues * Sherman Brooks Danielsen * Peacocke Weiss Potgieter Coetzee * de Kiewiet Flower Gordon Iminitoff Johns

Page

First name

Surname

20

48 50 52

Mark Martin Mike Mike Mike Neil Peter Peter Philip Rina Rob Rod Rodney Ross Scott Sergio Soti Steve Steve Thomas Tony Vaughn

Philip * Reeves * Heydenrych Lazer Oberholzer Martin Nofal Scurr van Biljon * King de Pretto Humphris Jones Tudhope Dean* Pagani Anagnostopoulos Axcell Lennon* Gluck Escorcio van Heerden

5

Lecturers & Class Photos

22 24 26 28 29 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46

Page

54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72

5 74

76 78 80

IN LOVING MEMORY We remember with heavy hearts eight of our classmates whose lives were tragically cut short. Each one brought something irreplaceable—kindness, laughter, brilliance, and friendship—that helped shape our experience at Wits in lasting ways.

Although they are no longer with us, their spirit endures—in our memories, in the stories we tell, and in the profound impact they had on our lives. Their absence is deeply felt, but so too is the enduring presence they left behind.

· Adrian Marini · Barrie Cole · Bill Barrett · Brett Morris · Dallas van der Wath · Greg Anderson · Mark Johns · Sergio Pagani

ADRIAN FERRAMOSCA ANTIBES, FRANCE

After graduation, I completed my two-year military service, firstly at the School of Engineers in Kroonstad, followed by a year at Pretoria Metal Pressings, a supplier of ammunition and explosives for Armscor. After my service, I convinced Sapref to buy out my Anglo American scholarship and moved to Amanzimtoti, where I worked at the refinery for two years.

In 1985, I returned to Johannesburg and joined AECI, meeting up again with Guy, Louise and Dave Stewart. Around that time, I got my Italian passport and, in 1988 decided to emigrate to the UK, working for KBC. Things didn’t quite work out there, so I returned to South Africa and joined Kenwalt in Rivonia. But by 1991, I was off to the UK again, this time with Baker Jardine & Associates. This was where I began my journey into fluid flow modeling, co-authoring Pipesim, the leading industry simulator for oil and gas multiphase flow.

In 1994, we won green cards in the US lottery and moved to California. Here I worked for SimSci for five years, where our daughter Mila was born. In 1999, I relocated to Houston and rejoined Baker Jardine, which was in the process of being acquired

by Schlumberger. I spent the next decade working for Schlumberger, in both Abingdon, UK, and Houston, until 2010, when I was headhunted by OLI Systems in New Jersey.

After a brief stint at Weatherford in Edinburgh, I teamed up with my fellow Pipesim co-author Colin Watters, to develop a new fluid flow simulator to rival Pipesim. Our company was acquired by Emerson in 2017.

In 2021, during the pandemic when the oil price went negative, I decided to retire to the south of France and settled in Antibes, where I now enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. I lead and participate in various hiking groups, and do 2-3 hikes per week of up to 20km and 1200m elevation change... apparently I have climbed Everest 5 times. I am an avid photographer and am blessed to be in one of the most beautiful parts of the world to explore all types of landscape.

On a personal note, our daughter Mila, born in Newport Beach, California, has grown into an accomplished violinist based in London. She has performed with numerous orchestras as soloist and lead violinist, along with various quartets and other groups, at distinguished venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Sheldonian, The House of Lords, Cadogan Hall and Wigmore Hall. She started playing at 6 and follows in the footsteps of my grandfather, who as an immigrant from southern Italy, was a famous violinist in early Johannesburg and Cape Town, serenading locals in concert halls and bars in early Joburg.

ADRIANO MARINI 22/1/1958 – 9/5/2018 - Penned by Michelle Marini (Adriano’s Wife) Adrian was possessed with an unwavering sense of curiosity and interest in both ‘people’ and ‘things’ that begot a lifetime of learning.

Speaking only Italian until he began school, where he quickly discovered that he and his peers just didn’t speak the same language, he first mastered English and then went onto becoming proficient in speaking, reading, and writing (to varying degrees) - Afrikaans, Zulu, French, and a smattering of German, in addition to his native Italian. Besides his Chemical Engineering degree (1981), he graduated with an MBA (1989), and a Higher Diploma in Tax Law (2010).

Possessing a tendency to become weary with the familiar and an urge to seek out new challenges, he worked across a number of industries during his career included Mining, Metals, Oil and Gas, Water Treatment, and tax incentives as they applied to the Industrial sector.

Adrian married Michelle (a New Zealander), who he found wandering around on a European Contiki Tour. With an opportunity to combine her fondness for ‘anything Italian’ and the African landscape, how could she refuse when he invited her to visit South Africa. They married in 1987 and were married for 31 years. Adrian is father to Nirvana (a new Sydney resident) and Kai (living in London), who have both adopted their father’s curiosity, love of learning, and his ethic of hard work and integrity.

He maintained friendships from his Varsity days to the end of his days with Alan Field, David Stewart, Rod Humphris, Larry Weiss (Chem Eng) and Jo Iorio (Metallurgy). Jo, qualifying as he did for the role of ‘the godfather’ due to his Italian lineage, has stepped into the breach since Adrian passed and become something of a mentor to Kai. Jo has maintained his and Adrian’s regular Hyde Park meet-ups for dinners and coffees with Kai. When Kai says to Michelle “I’m meeting Jo” she appreciates how extraordinarily special that is: that the father’s friend is now a friend to the father’s son.

Adrian was an avid gym-goer and participated in many corporate road races. He and Larry were Squash buddies for many years and on 1 September (Spring Day) they would take a plunge in the pool, regardless of the temperature or weather - an annual event that continued for several years post Larry’s move to Australia. Many braais and milestone birthdays were shared with Dave, Rod, and Alan over the years, testament to the strong ties that bind when meaningful and enduring friendships prevail.

In the final years leading up to his passing, active Adrian preferred the more sedate pursuits of crosswords, Sudoku, and reading the dictionary (yes, actually going through it cover to cover) to learn new and complicated words to work into his vocabulary and flummox the rest of us - he was captivated by Etymology.

Adrian believed that, essentially, we are energy and that the cosmos exists to be explored. We know he’s out there somewhere … still being curious, still learning, and exploring the vastness of the universe.

ALAN FIELD Rosengarten (near Hamburg) Germany

The best experience of my Wits career was meeting my amazing wife of 45 years, Ursula, on a Rag float. We have 3 wonderful children, 2 of whom live in the UK and 1 in RSA, and are blessed with 5 beautiful grandchildren, 3 in the UK and 2 in RSA. Thank goodness for WhatsApp and Face Time, so we can stay in touch with all the family news and developments from wherever we or they are at the time.

Being a bursary holder and needing to complete Reactor Theory for the nth time before I could graduate, I started my career as an Engineer in Training in the Process Design department in Sasolburg on 1 Oct 1979. 1981 was spent in the Engineer Corp in Kroonstad, where I completed my Officer’s Course, and since Sasol was deemed a strategic entity, I was allowed to return to Sasolburg for the second year. The funniest moment was running into Dave Stewart in the back of a military ambulance after we both tore ligaments at different camps in Kroonstad.

In 1984 I was seconded to the Natref refinery, a joint venture with Total and immediately moved to Paris, with Ursula heavily pregnant with our 2nd child, to build a new mass balance and LP Model for the refinery. What was supposed to be a one year stay ended up being an amazing two and a half years.

My passion was always to move into marketing and after implementing the Total developed tools at the refinery, I joined the Wax team as Export Manager for Europe and SE Asia, based in Jhb. And so started a crazy journey of living abroad and travelling to all corners of the world marketing Sasol’s waxes, solvents, phenolics, carbon, ammonia and specialty gases. As a family, we spent time in Frauenfeld in Switzerland, Birmingham and Farnham in the UK, Houston, Dusseldorf and Hamburg.

We have been in Hamburg on and off since 1996 and built our current home in a small village 35km south of Hamburg in 2000. I calculated that we have made 12 home moves, of which 9 were international moves (and we’re still married!!).

After running the Sasol Chemicals Digital and Marketing Excellence team and a spell in the Sasol HQ Transformation team, I retired from Sasol after a 44-year career at the end of July 2023.

Retired life is now all about the things that we didn’t have enough time for during the Sasol years. Travelling, gardening, golf, birding and wildlife photography, attending iconic sporting events, together with trying to spend as much time with our children and grandchildren leaves very little time for any boredom. Dave Stewart, Rod Humphris and I see each other regularly and enjoy birding, wildlife photography and the odd game of golf together. Looking forward to end September!!

BRUCE BAILIE Montgomery, Texas After graduating Dawn and I married, and I completed national service. The first year was at Engineering Corps in Kroonstad and the second year at CSIR. Fortunately, I did manage to get in a lot of sailing during the two years, sailed for the army in various regattas including the Cape-to-Uruguay race. The army crew was assigned to return a yacht to Cape Town, so we experienced the “roaring forties” and visited Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island in the world.

I started work at Sasol in Secunda and the early days at the site were a lot of fun. My responsibilities evolved to control engineering and figuring out how to best utilize the new digital control system from Honeywell. One day the Engineering manager asked me if I could build a “flight simulator” to train operators and developing that first system triggered my interest in training simulators.

In 1987 while pursuing a GDE at Wits, John Cullum & I decided that corporate life was not great, and it would be much better to have our own business. It was not long before three of our colleagues joined us to start the company Advanced Control & Simulation.

We sold ACS to Honeywell in 1995 to establish the Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions entity in South Africa. I transferred with Honeywell to Bracknell (UK) and then to Phoenix in 2000, leading sales and operations of Hi-Spec Solutions. Unfortunately, the entity had invested heavily in internet solutions and when the dot-com bubble burst 2002 Honeywell shut it down. The president did not believe that the internet was a viable business platform!

I then moved to Honeywell in Houston to work in the traditional automation business until 2006 when I was seconded to lead the global deployment of SAP for our division. The next four years was a crazy world tour with deployments in twenty-five countries.

I joined Dresser-Rand in 2013 just before the company was acquired by Siemens and spent the next ten years with Siemens based out of Houston. Siemens provided the opportunity to get back into software solutions under the banner of Digitalization and Knowledge Based Engineering before transitioning to IT management.

Upon retiring, we moved out of the city to a small town north of Houston and retirement also ushered in a joyful new chapter, grandparenthood. We now have a wonderful one year old granddaughter.

DAVID BAILLIE Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

On leaving Wits, I joined Sasol and rose through the ranks to Divisional Manager at Sasol Two and Principal Engineer at Sasol Oil. After 9 years with Sasol, I resigned and took a commissioning contract at Sua Pan in Botswana. When complete, I returned to Zimbabwe to take over the family farms which I ran for 12 years ending in 2003, when the Land Reform Program stole everything away.

We moved to Gaborone where I ended up on contract with Debswana working on coal washing and diamond projects at Morupule and Orapa.

In 2009, I was recruited by Aveng to go to Malawi to commission and manage an Acid Plant on the Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga. I had 6 very challenging but rewarding years on the mine until it was put into care and maintenance in 2015.

I was offered the manager post at the Middleburg Mine Water Reclamation Plant for Aveng/South 32 and relocated to South Africa.

In 2019, with mandatory retirement looming, I was offered the opportunity to go to Swakopmund for 2 years to run the Erongo Desalination Plant for Nafasi/Orano, and 4 years later I retired to the UK, where I am now Site Manager at a liquid fertiliser factory.

A keen fitness fanatic I completed 6 Comrades marathons before taking up mountain biking in 1993 when I moved to Zimbabwe.

My wife and I have done many multi-day MTB events and I have completed the Cape Cycle Tour 15 times. The whole ethos of fit and healthy came crashing down in 2019 when I had a heart attack followed by a triple bypass! We still exercise regularly and, weather permitting, ride our mountain bikes at weekend.

On the personal front, I married Cindy after graduating and we had 2 children, Michael and Vicky. They have both done very well, despite getting their first degrees at Rhodes, with Vicky a Principal Scientist at Wits VIDA unit, and Michael living in the UK. I married Debbie in 2000 and we have travelled the world together since then. We now live close to her two children Richard and Briar in Lincolnshire. We have 4 beautiful grandchildren who keep us busy and, on our toes, whenever we get to see them.

DAVID STEWART sandton, south africa

After university and army, I launched into AECI’s No. 4 Ammonia Plant, where I quickly discovered that Laplace Transforms didn’t prepare me for removing spent catalysts from very tall columns or severe itching from clearing slag-wool from cold boxes. After mastering the fine art of staying awake in a hard hat after all-night bridge sessions, I was seconded to ICI in the Northeast of England—Billingham, where ammonia and methanol flowed freely, and so did the cups of tea. Then came Brazil, where I swapped overalls for a suit and sold engineering services while practicing my Portuguese and discovering that caipirinhas are not a breakfast drink.

Brazil didn’t just give me an expanded resume—it gave me my wife, Cristiana, whom I consider the best souvenir I’ve ever brought home. We’ve been married for 37 wonderful years, despite my continued insistence on watching Liverpool games at odd hours. We have two kids: Kirsten, a Dramatic Arts grad now keeping Epic Games running as a facilities manager, and Thomas, a software engineer at the cryptocurrency exchange Luno, who can probably explain blockchain to me one more time, slowly.

Back in South Africa, I returned to AECI’s head office but in a weak moment jumped ship to start Spectrum Chemicals for them. That turned into a wild ride of acquisitions and a new name: Crest Chemicals. We grew it into the second-largest chemical distributor in the country, impressive for an original business plan of “Escape from Head Office.”

After that, I did a brief stint at Omnia, then joined EDS Africa, where I ran outsourced IT solutions for major mining and manufacturing firms—because nothing says chemical engineering like troubleshooting someone else’s printer in a mineshaft. Then came AT Kearney, where I wore suits and said things like “synergize cross-functional platforms” with a straight face, mainly in the banking sector. Finally, I wrapped it all up by founding my own consulting firm, Vsolution, which allowed me to both work and sneak off to birding trips when no one was looking.

Photography is my main hobby—especially birds and wildlife—which conveniently justifies travel to remote, mosquito-filled places where even Google Maps says, “Good luck.” I still play golf, albeit with increasingly depressing scores. We've played in Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Thailand, and closer to home, usually in search of lost balls and dignity. I'm also a Liverpool FC fan, still riding the high from recent glory after years of character-building drought.

This year I became a grandfather—young Ronin is just three months old and already showing signs of being larger than all of us. I also dabble in Padel, though it's increasingly hard to find playing partners who aren’t sick, lame, or lazy. Travel remains a passion: Vietnam, Borneo, sailing in Turkey, Greece, and Croatia, multitude of bush trips plus a bucket-list Antarctic expedition, and let’s not forget Doha for the World Cup—great football, great memories, and even a visit with Guy. Looking forward to catching up with everyone

ERIC GORDON KEITH WOODS SALT ROCK, KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA

After graduating end 1980, I endured my basic compulsory military service with the Sappers school in Kroonstad. Thankfully, I was seconded to CSIR in Pretoria on “special projects” in my second year to complete my military service. I must admit, I felt guilty that I was working in civies in a protected environment compared to my compatriots involved in the SANDF Border War. As I had a bursary with CSIR, without which I would not have been able to afford Uni, I started gainful employment at the Chemical Engineering Research Group at CSIR in 1983. However, research was not my cup-of-tea, so in 1986 I joined Sasol Gas as an Energy Advisor. I had also met and married my late wife Cindy Thomson in 1983. Cindy unfortunately and very tragically passed away in 2008 in a motorbike accident. Her legacy continues; she left behind two wonderful children, my son Eric (35) and my daughter, Taryn (32).

Moving slowly up the ranks at Sasol, I ended up as Acting Operations GM of Sasol Gas in 2013. Then a year later, still in the acting position, Sasol had a major restructuring intervention (Project Phoenix). I, and many others, was offered a very attractive VER (voluntary early retirement) as I was 55 years old. It was a no-brainer, so here I was in 2014 at 55, retired and without work, but not for long!

I found employment with a three-year contract at Bureau Veritas (a French testing, inspection, and certification services company) in Johannesburg as a Sales Consultant, and decided to properly retire once the contract period was over in 2017. It just did not make sense to work and stress about pleasing a boss when you do not have to!

My life took a dramatic, but most positive turn when shortly after retiring from Sasol in 2014, I met my soul mate Marguerette. We were married in 2017, and to boot, I was now the proud father of two additional adolescents, Wesley (32) and Tamrun (31), Margie’s children from her ex. All four our children are thankfully gainfully employed and successful in their careers.

In 2018 we relocated to Salt Rock, KwaZulu-Natal and albeit Margie works from home as a Tax/Accounting specialist, we enjoy the “retirement” lifestyle. We often cycle, off-road and mountain biking, play padel, enjoy safaris, especially to the KNP (although we’ve been to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique too), and then also visit the overseas countries on our bucket list. So far, we’ve sojourned to France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Mauritius, Bali, and Australia. Our next visit is to Türkiye and Greece come Aug/Sep 2025, just before the Wits Class reunion.

Margie and I are very much looking forward to the reunion of the WITS Class of 1980 in September 2025 in the beautiful Magaliesberg.

GREG ANDERSON 12/8/1959 - 16/7/2017

Penned by Colleen anderson (Greg's wife)

Greg was born in Johannesburg and attended Pridwin Preparatory before moving on to Michaelhouse. At MHS, he achieved Natal colours in both athletics and rugby, and also earned academic honours. He went on to graduate with honours as a Chemical Engineer from Wits University before serving two years in the army. Greg represented Transvaal in U21 rugby and was also a provincial triathlete. He received a special services award for bravery during the Rhodesian War. In 1986, Greg married Colleen Mitchell, and together they had three sons, who became the third generation of their family to attend Michaelhouse: Robert (MHS 2008-2012), Nick and Ryan (MHS 2011-2015).

Greg began his professional career with Unilever. He and Colleen lived as expats in Liverpool for a few years while he worked with Lever Brothers before returning to Pietermaritzburg with Liptons. He later worked for Sea Harvest in Saldanha before moving to Johannesburg to work with Tiger Brands. Greg’s professional interests largely centered around sports nutrition and nutraceuticals, fields he pursued with companies like Pharma Natura and Ascendis Health.

In 2017, Greg began a new role with ETG in Sandton, but tragically passed away just before his 58th birthday. He was killed by a drunk driver on a training ride near Hazyview on Sunday, July 16, 2017, while doing something he loved.

A passionate cyclist, Greg won the MTB World Champions Masters title in 2015, along with many South African titles. He was a prominent South African veteran cyclist and earned international titles as well. Greg competed in the ABSA Epic Mountain Bike Races in the Western Cape 11 times, often reaching the podium. His GPS record revealed that he rode over 100,000 kilometers in just four years.

Greg cherished his time at Michaelhouse, especially watching his sons play cricket and rugby. He had many fond memories of those times and was incredibly proud of his family.

His sons have all excelled in their own fields: Robert (born 1994, married to Anastasia Smith), a Chartered Accountant (UCT honours) and CFA Level 3, works for BlackRock in London. He played Craven Week rugby for the Sharks and captained KZN Midlands at SA Schools Cricket week.

Nicholas (born 1997, married to Christine Court), a BSc Mechatronics graduate from UCT, works as a Robotic Engineer at Aerobotics in Cape Town and has represented South Africa in Ultimate Frisbee.

Ryan (twin, born 1997), who holds a BSc in Mathematics and Stats (honours) from UCT and an MPhil in Machine Intelligence/Learning from Cambridge, works at CarbonChain in London. He was Head Boy at Michaelhouse in 2015, participated in the Orbis Foundation leadership program, and received the prestigious Cecil Renaud Scholarship to study abroad.

guy leven-marcon doha, qatar (from Perth, Western Australia) After contemplating David Glasser's advice that a Masters was a failed Doctorate, I concluded that I should forego academia and go straight into industry. In January 1981, I started as a Technical Officer on AECI's 4 Ammonia plant at Modderfontein. National service first year from July 1981 was done at Diskobolos, Kimberley, with Greg Anderson. My 2nd year was at Namibia Water Affairs at the Mile 4 desalination plant, just north of Swakopmund. I rather incongruously traveled to and from Mile 4 in my green beach buggy in army uniform.

July 1983 I was back at 4 Ammonia, working with David Stewart and Roger Beardsworth, Irene and Louise, trouble shooting, doing minor projects, including installing anti-surge control on the compressors, then managing operations, and biennial Shutdowns.

In 1993, I married Janet, after she wisely refused an engagement ring, seeing that I had already had 2 broken engagements, with a honeymoon through Namibia, retracing my steps from 1982 & 3.

From 1993 – 2001, I was Operations Manager at Aquachlor, a 50:50 JV between NCP (Sentrachem) and Arch Chemicals in USA, making hth® Calcium Hypochlorite at Chloorkop, with occasion to work on partner plants in Tennessee and Brazil. I had direct exposure to Trade Union rivalry and a volatile Industrial Relations environment during the rapid political changes in the 1990’s. I did an MBA at Henley Management College. From 2001 – 2005, at Gemini Consulting, I did projects in mining in Botswana and courier services in Johannesburg.

In 2005 we had an opportunity to move to Australia, with our 2 daughters, Anne (b. 2000) and Sophie (b. 2004), with Partners in Performance (PIP), based in Adelaide till 2012, and then Perth. I was focused on operational improvement, mainly in mining and plant operations, mostly in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In mid-2021 during the disruption of COVID, I joined dss+ (previously DuPont Sustainable Solutions) in Doha, Qatar, also focused on operational improvement and implementing Process Safety Management.

In the 1980’s and 90’s I was very involved in the South African cricket development programme at Modderfontein Cricket Club, with Transvaal Cricket and Ali Bacher, and we coached and developed many scholars from Tembisa to play for our 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams.

I also managed to get one of the first Comrades Marathon Vic Clapham medals when they generously extended the cut off time to 12 hours in 2003. Now my runs do not exceed 4km! I still play golf and tennis.

Holidays were spent in Rhodes, NE Cape, mainly to repair our off grid 1890’s cottage, now electrified and sold. From Australia, we had many hedonistic family Pacific cruises. From Qatar, Janet and I walked 2 weeks of the Camino in Spain, and had a walking trip in Jordan.

Anne followed in my footsteps doing Chem Eng at University of Sydney and working for a year at PIP; now living in Sydney. Sophie is studying Social Work in Perth. Janet as an expat wife in Qatar is taking the opportunity to travel widely.

IRENE CULLUM Surrey, United Kingdom

After Graduation, I did a 6 month stint at AECI’s multipurpose Chemicals facility at Modderfontein before heading to the University of Toronto (Canada) for 18 months to do a coursework Masters.

In 1983 I returned to South Africa and took a job with Sasol technical Services in Secunda with Bruce Baillie and Louise (although briefly). I worked on the process design of start-up modifications and small capital projects. In 1984 I was selected to spend 7 months on a training exchange in Belgium with the contractor Tractionel who were responsible for optimising the overall control for Sasol 2 and 3. During this period my understanding of control and my spoken French improved substantially.

In 1986 I married Mike and shortly after that we left for the UK where initially I worked for a BP Ventures company designing specialty incineration and recovery facilities for VCM and PTFE production plants.

In 1990 I joined Fluor where I remained until I retired last October. During my time with them I remained in Process design, working on and leading new design projects and debottlenecking projects mainly on Oil fields, sour Gas Processing and Petrochemicals facilities mainly in Norway, the Middle East and Kazakhstan.

On a more personal note, my daughter Kirsty was born in 1995 and for the next 10 years we spent most of our holidays sun seeking and swimming in various Greek and Spanish Islands, Barbados, St Lucia and Florida. We also visited my sister in Christchurch and spent 3 weeks covering both the North and South Islands. Later my sister moved to Perth, we visited her in 2009 taking a trip up the west coast to Exmouth exploring Monkey Mia and the Ningaloo reef. More recently we had the opportunity to visit different places including the northern part of India, Thailand, Belize and more recently Costa Rica. During the covid period where travel was prohibited, we discovered the northern part of Scotland and have been back there discovering new areas a few times.

My daughter graduated in Economics and later went on to do a Master’s at the London School of Economics in Development.

Since then she has worked as an analyst mainly in Women’s development, Climate change and more recently refugees, supporting various organisations such as World Bank, Oxfam and Bill Gates Foundation on how to target their aid programs for the most positive results.

In my spare time I train and compete with my two border collies in obedience trials. Since retiring I have taken up Pickle ball and usually play 4 times a week which has certainly improved my fitness. I look forward to catching up with you all in September.

JAVIER KIRIGIN johannesburg, south africa Prior to starting work in early 1981 at JCI’s Metallurgical Laboratory, I did a horse trail with other Witsies to the Maletsunyane Falls in Lesotho. Fantastic trip. I was fortunate to do this and to complete Wits after a car accident near Swaziland in 1978 where I suffered a compression fracture in 2 neck vertebrae and was confined to traction for nearly 4 months and 3 months of stepdown. Friends and lecturers provided support at the Joburg Gen in Hillbrow since hailing from Bolivia had no family in ZA. I remember 1981 with fondness due to the copious snow we got at the Lab in September.

In 1984, I started at Matthey Rustenburg Refiners as a Metallurgist and 4 years later I registered as a Professional Engineer joining Vansa Vanadium where I was part of the commissioning team of the Vanadium Pentoxide facility encompassing many unit processes. My last role was that of Acting Metallurgical Manager.

In 1991, I joined Magotteaux, one of the main producers of High Chrome grinding media and mill liners in the world with head office in Vaux-sous-Chevremont, Belgium. I spent about a year there developing and testing a Mobile Grinding Plant to carry out grinding and wear tests for a Copper, Tin and Lead concentrator in Portugal. In mid-1993, I returned to South Africa and enrolled at the Alliance Française, there I met my future wife, Lola. We were blessed with the birth of Elisa in 1996 and 2 years later with the birth of a boy: Alexi. He was born in Vitoria, Espiritu Santo, Brazil where I led a team of engineers to carry out comminution and wear tests of grinding media for CVRD (Vale), one of the largest iron ore producers in the world.

In 2000 we moved back to South Africa where I was involved in sales and marketing of High Chrome grinding balls and liners for clients in South Africa although I continued to give technical assistance to clients in South America. One of the highlights of my time at Magotteaux was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, a project ran by Geita Gold Mine and the local community to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS. This was one of my toughest undertakings.

In 2005, I joined Multotec Rubber managing local as well as clients in Tanzania, Kenya and Angola. As Product Manager, I managed the comminution needs including black box optimization, supply and logistical needs of French-speaking clients in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire etc) and in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. One of the drawbacks in West Africa is the exposure to malaria which I contracted twice. I’m fortunate to have survived.

In my comminution role I did projects in Siberia, Sahara, Andes, Australian Pilbara, DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 2017, I retired from Multotec but continued consulting as Kirigin Konsult. On the family front, Elisa will obtain soon a PhD (Biochemistry) from Rhodes and Alexi, a Tuks graduate (PPE), is in the business of Bitcoin arbitrage. In addition to being a scientist Elisa is a musician and painter (see my portrait in photos). Alexi is a soccer and Padel player. I concentrate in TaiChi, reading and hiking. Hope to restart golf soon.

JOE IORIO Perth, Australia

After graduating I did two years of compulsory military with the Engineer’s Division in Kroonstad. During my two years of military service I managed to get a special military project’s post at Mintek and then joined the Hydrometallurgy Division of Mintek after my military service. It was great working at Mintek because we never did any real work there so it gave me the opportunity to play lots of provincial squash, do a financial degree and think about my future. I very soon realised there is no money in being a mathematical wiz kid or Chemical Engineering/ Metallurgy.

Towards the end of the 1990 I luckily got fired from Mintek and I never looked back.

I started a construction company and I was one of the first developers to start building residential sectional title units in Gauteng.

I did all the right things, like get married and divorced, so now I am semi-retired and currently spend my time living in Perth and South Africa cycling, gyming, going to the beach and playing the stock markets.

JOEL KOPINSKY FARMINGTON HILLS (DETROIT), MICHIGAN, USA

Immediately after graduation, I moved to Minnesota to pursue a Ph.D. with a focus on diffusion and chemical reaction. The degree involved a rigorous combination of coursework and years of research. My undergraduate training at Wits provided an excellent foundation for further study abroad. When people ask me how I managed the winters, I always smile and say, “The winters are novel, but the humid summers are horrible.”

In 1985, I joined General Motors’ Research Labs and was fortunate to receive sponsorship for a green card. Toward the end of my time at GM, I married for the first time. After three years, I left to pursue a challenging MBA at Columbia University. As it turned out, wearing a white coat and researching vehicle evaporative emissions just wasn’t my calling.

While at Columbia, I took full advantage of New York City’s cultural offerings, despite the heavy load of homework and group projects. I have fond memories of standing-room tickets at the Met Opera and intimate chamber concerts in small Soho galleries.

Two major events followed my time at Columbia: the birth of my first child, Michael, in 1990, and my move to a technical and business consulting firm in New Jersey. Unfortunately, the chemical practice there was struggling financially. Thanks to my automotive background, I was soon transferred to the company’s Detroit office—a move that changed everything. There, I met my new boss, Mitra O’Malley. Within a year, we co-founded our own consulting firm, The ITB Group, and eleven years later (2003), we were married.

ITB has been both rewarding and demanding. The work has taken me across the global automotive landscape—North America, Europe, Japan, China and S. Korea. We’ve completed assignments for major chemical firms, component suppliers, and OEMs, and have organized numerous auto-related conferences in Detroit and Shanghai. In our second year, my daughter Hannah was born.

In recent years, I’ve increasingly focused on mentoring start-ups, especially in the clean energy and fuel sectors. My time at GM has always remained a key reference point. While gasoline and diesel have shaped much of my career, hydrogen has become a growing area of interest. Several of the start-ups I’ve supported have spun out of the University of Toronto.

In 2013, I discovered a new passion: walking England’s Coast-to-Coast trail. The route from St. Bees to Robin Hoods Bay is officially 192 miles—but it somehow always ends up over 200. Both Michael and Hannah have joined me on the walk, as has Ashton, Mitra’s younger son. I’ve now walked parts of the trail countless times and treasure each journey.

JOHN DERBYSHIRE Pretoria , south africa After graduation in 1980 I worked off my bursary at Zincor in Springs variously on the sulphuric acid plants and zinc plant ultimately as Metallurgical Superintendent. This was also a period of strife between the Num and Inkata, resulting in strikes and inter-union bloodshed. As part of GoldFields, in 1990 I was transferred to Vlakfontein Gold mine for the final year of plant operation and the plant closure gold recovery project. During this period, I also acted as my own exploration geologist, scavenging gold from various sources on the East Rand.

In 1991 I was promoted to Metallurgical Manager (the youngest ever at GoldFields) for the four coal washing plants at Greenside colliery in Witbank, producing coal for the domestic and export markets. In 1993 I was transferred to Leeudoorn Gold (Westonaria) to take the new plant from post commissioning to design throughput. I was then transferred to the new and struggling Northam Platinum in Thabazimbi in 1995 on a business rescue team assignment. Responsible for collectively the Concentrators, Smelter, Base Metal Removal Plant and Laboratory complex, this was one of the most demanding jobs in the Platinum industry. The mine was turned to profit after 2 years; and we constructed and commissioned a UG2 concentrator in 2001.

Not wanting to put the children into boarding schools for their secondary education we moved to Pretoria in 2002. I joined SouthernEra for the design, construction and commissioning of their two concentrators at Lebowakgomo, which were purchased by Lonmin in 2006. I then joined Boynton Platinum (Pilanesberg) for the design and early operations of their two PGM concentrators and a DMS plant.

Since 2010 I have been jointly and independently consulting to various organisations as Goshawk Network Technologies and have undertaken projects and Due Diligence studies in the platinum, gold, niobium, graphite, lithium, vanadium, zinc, copper, zircon and Rare Earth sectors, most notably Frontier Rare Earths project at Zandkopsdrift. I remain a Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy but resigned my PrEng a couple of years ago.

Married to Glenda, whom I met whilst at university, in 1982 and we have three sons, of whom James and Richard are chemical engineers, and we collectively support our jointly owned Goshawk. Richards twin brother Mark is an author/actor based in London.

Over the years I am fortunate to have spent significant time offshore in either a personal and/or professional capacity in 29 countries (and counting) on six continents. This includes a trip to Oshkosh in 2003 for the Experimental Aircraft Associations Centenary of Flight celebrations. I have not yet completed the homebuilt experimental aircraft I started in the 90s, having survived several health issues along the way relatively intact, but leaving me with limited prospects of achieving a flying licence.

We race a pair of Formula Vees, one a 1978 historic vehicle and the second a tribute scratch built replica. Glenda and my sons drive these as members of the Historic Single Seaters Association.

JON HARDY Melbourne, Australia My career kicked off in Chemical Engineering at AECI, where my most notable project was uprating of No4 Ammonia, and involved writing a Fortran module to model the large compressors and steam turbines. A business degree later, I swapped to industrial marketing, but the factory floor called me back to run the PVC plants in Sasolburg.

My most vivid memory from that time is a 2 a.m. call-out to reboot a PDP11 process computer. This wasn't a simple restart; it was a wonderfully absurd ritual of dialing in hex codes on paddle switches to get a paper tape running, which in turn ran a magnetic tape. It always reminded me of the old lady who swallowed a fly.

After a stint running a polyethylene plant, I became the PE technology manager, concurrent with the formation of Polifin (a joint venture with Sasol polymers). Then, in 1997, my wife Denise and I planned to emigrate. A last-minute job offer diverted us from New Zealand to Australia, where I joined ICI Australia. Through a series of corporate changes, it became Orica, and then, in a serious case of déjà vu, a joint venture with ExxonMobil created Qenos.

Realising the local industry was at a standstill, I pivoted, completing an MBA in e-business in 2001. This launched me into a whole new world: building the digital maps for GPS navigation across Australia and New Zealand. From there, my career has been a tour through online advertising and various SaaS companies, and I’m now back in utility billing, right in the middle of the fascinating renewable energy transition.

The best part of my story, though, is my family. Denise and I have two great children, Richard and Natasha. Richard holds a Master's in Biostatistics, and Natasha holds an honours degree in early childhood education. She is now a full-time mum to our granddaughter, Eliza.

Eliza, who is two-and-a-bit, adores her "Grandie" (Denise). As for me, likely inspired by the "Grand old duke of York" nursery rhyme, she has christened me "grand-duke." The title stands, at least until her majesty changes her mind!

I’m still working, but only as long as it interests me. These days, my passions are photography, the technology behind renewable energy, and exploring AI as a productivity and enablement tool.

JOHN VISSER Perth, Australia Christian, Process Engineer, Metallurgist, Dust Engineer, Now Retired!

My life in a few lines!

Born in Johannesburg (1957), and in 2003, I moved my family to Perth, Western Australia.

Went to Bryanston High School (and a few others.) Prefect in Year 12.

Completed the one-year certificate at Rosebank Bible College.

Graduated with a degree in Extractive Metallurgy at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Spent the two-year army stint in Oshakati.

Obtained a Master of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa.

Worked for several companies in South Africa and Western Australia in the mining industry.

Retired January 2023 and now • Babysit my Granddaughter twice a week, • Attend 3 Bible study groups weekly, • Catch up with friends very regularly, • Go on holiday now and then locally (ie within WA, and to eastern states within Oz, and overseas at least once a year), • Take long walks regularly (not as often as I would like, rain dampens my enthusiasm), in addition, and now and then, I go hiking in the Perth hills.

KEN SHERMAN Toronto, canada After graduation, I left South Africa to do a master’s degree at the University of Toronto.My research topic was to determine optimal conditions for wood liquefaction and was finished in early 1983.I chose not to proceed with a Ph.D. as the master’s had revealed to me that I did not have the patience required for research. With the engineering profession in Canada in a serious recession at the time, I returned to South Africa to do my national service in July 1985.

My basic training was completed in the Engineering Corps in Kroonstad, after which I was sent to Bethlehem for second phase training, having refused officer’s course. There, I and 20 other engineers and architects sat around doing nothing for 3 months, aside from participating in the SA Hot Air Ballooning championships, after which we got transferred to Pretoria. For the next 18 months, I commuted daily from Johannesburg to Pretoria running the computer in the survey squadron.

On completing my national service, I joined Sastech in Rosebank in July 1985. Called up for my first camp a year later in Pretoria, I took the opportunity to go the Canadian Embassy and submit my papers to emigrate to Canada. While waiting for my papers, I met and married Deena, a press photographer, and we emigrated to Canada in July 1988.

There I found work, in Toronto, with Stone & Webster Canada as a Process Engineer, where I worked for 12 years on various engineering projects, rising to the position of Chief Process Engineer. In 2000, I was head-hunted by Colt Engineering, a Canadian engineering firm, to help them grow their capability in front-end development and large complex revamp projects from their Toronto office. I led all oil refinery projects, helping to grow the office from 100 to 500 people when in 2007 they were bought by Worley.

After the buy-out I worked consecutively as Chief Process Engineer, Director for Front-End Engineering and Consultant. In 2022, with the pandemic largely over and able to travel again, I retired from Worley, but agreed to work part-time on a consulting basis, if the work is interesting and I will not be travelling.

Deena and I have two children, a son and daughter. My son Steven lives in Toronto, whose son, our first grandchild, was born in July.

He is also a chemical engineer, currently working for a start-up developing a battery for low cost, long term power storage. My daughter, Danni, obtained a BA in Social Psychology. After being cooped up, working from home during the pandemic, she headed off on a work/holiday visa in November 2022 to Australia, and then on to New Zealand where she is now working as a tour guide at Hobbiton.

I used to play squash competitively, but that stopped after a hip replacement. We do a lot of travelling, giving me an opportunity to satisfy my interests for hiking, birding and photography.

KEVIN BROOKS parktown north, johannesburg, south africa

I carried on to do a PhD with David Glasser; it was awarded in 1986.

I lectured at Wits until 1990 and joined AECI in 1991, where I spent time in Houston on the no.4 ammonia revamp project.

I joined ACS (owned by Bruce Bailie) in 1995. It became Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions in 1995, and I worked in dynamic modelling, advanced process control (APC), and optimisation. I was the Engineering Leader for APC and led projects in South Africa and Europe, mainly Eastern Europe.

In 2007, I moved to BluESP, the Aspentech distributor for South Africa, as a principal consultant and later chief engineer. I had projects in ethylene and fuel gas network optimization and, together with Anglo Platinum, pioneered the application of APC in mining.

In 2021, I formed APC Smart to mentor and train upcoming APC engineers and provide profit improvement programs and project implementation in APC. In 2019, I was appointed an honorary professor at Wits. I am co-leader of the data analytics, numerics and control engineering (DANCE) research group and co-supervise around fourteen graduate students.

I have been on the Exco of the South African Council for Automation and Control since 2007, and I was president in 2013 and 2014 when we hosted the very successful International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) World Congress in Cape Town.

I was appointed chair of the IFAC Industry Committee in 2023, and such am a member of the IFAC Council.

I have been married twice. From my first marriage, I have two children (Nadine and Daniel), each with three children. My wife Sian and I have been married for 25 years, and I have a stepson, Blair.

2015 but still my Avatar

With the Beast to Australia IFAC Congress with Ryan (ABB), Derik (UP)- Toulouse

Fresh pasta - cooking a hobby

Cruising with Sian Dennis

Activist - 1988

First day of school Three generations of smokers Essex

Visiting Prof - 2019

West Ham till I die

Snowmagggedon St Johns Newfoundland 2020

Daughter, grandkids

More grandkids

KEVIN PEACOCKE johannesburg, south africa

After university I went back to the new Zimbabwe and completed the mandatory four years with the Ministry of Mines. It was an excellent learning opportunity and most enjoyable.

In 1985 Peter Simpson and I started Peacocke & Simpson, a metallurgical laboratory and consulting company. We designed several plants and looked after many others for the likes of Falconbridge Canada. P&S still exists today, but the top workers took it over a few years back after Peter Simpson and I retired from P&S and they are doing an excellent job, two of them now have their PhDs. During the P&S era we started manufacturing plants too, but it proved hard going in Zimbabwe. So in 2007 we launched Appropriate Process Technologies in Johannesburg manufacturing and installing complete plants and it took off in a big way.

Today APT is in it's third expansion factory and has produced about 325 plants of various sizes including small ones. Nearly all of our business is export, RSA seems not to be into small and medium scale installations, which is our forte.

The future looks bright, no retirement planned yet. You are all very welcome to visit us at APT in North Riding, the coffee is good!

Tess and I have four daughters, all went to UCT. Hannah and Kirsten are C Eng's and involved in APT, Hannah is the COO. Kirsten does R&D. Lisa did marketing and runs our marketing branch from Scotland. Julia got a masters in micro surgery and became a farmer's wife! Tess is has a degree in geology, and earth sciences and works on APT's R&D. Keith, my brother, is chairman, so a family business, but all of our 50 or so employees are family.

LARRY WEISS Sydney, Australia After graduating as a Chemical Engineer in 1980 I suffered through military service, initially in Kroonstad and then in Pretoria. I rebelled against discipline and small-minded corporals and was discharged as a person of dubious nature with no leadership potential.

After the army I worked as a Project Engineer, initially at Armscor and later at Fluor Daniel Johannesburg. The latter involved design management of utility units for the Mossgas project. Before migrating to Australia I worked as a self-employed consultant and completed a MSc in Engineering Management.

I met my wife Karin at a commune party when escaping from the army for a weekend pass, and we got engaged a few years after I completed military service. Karin introduced me to overseas travel and skiing. Skiing holidays in Europe (Austria, Switzerland), South America (Argentina, Chile) and New Zealand were frequently combined with sight-seeing trips to neighboring countries.

In 1990 we were granted permanent residency for Australia, but bagging a contract as Environment Manager in Mauritius to run an analytical testing laboratory saw me pivot for a year. In 1992 we moved to Sydney where we have been ever since. I initially worked for an Assurance Certification Body, made lots of contacts and after a year established myself as a consultant, working in business improvement, risk management and compliance. Industry sectors included chemical processing, manufacturing, water and wastewater. The last decade involved infrastructure and construction, predominantly as an environmental compliance and quality assurance auditor. Infrastructure projects included Sydney Metro ($25bn) and several large road projects, most with tunneling components. My last significant assignment involved working with the NSW Dam Safety regulator conducting audits of high-risk dams.

Karin and I finally got married in 2007 on Lord Howe Island. We both love the outdoors and keep fit by jogging, orienteering, cycling and walking. As DINK’s we continued to travel extensively. Aside from regular trips to RSA to visit family, we went trekking in Nepal, watched cricket in the Caribbean, glamped/hiked in the McDonnell ranges in central Australia, swam with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, and participated in orienteering events in ANZ and Europe. In 2018 we bought an apartment in Ljubljana, Slovenia to escape the southern hemisphere winters and the nanny state that Australia has become. When there we immerse ourselves in cultural events, cycling, jogging and walking in the surrounding forests, and short trips to the Adriatic Sea, Julian Alps and elsewhere (Slovenia is a stunningly beautiful country). We also take the opportunity to visit and revisit places, the most recent being Scotland, Croatia, Bavaria and Budapest.

Otherwise, we keep a low profile. I still enjoy horse racing and try to drag myself away from work through property maintenance/ improvement projects. Karin retired in 2023 and last year we made the decision that I would semi-retire, so I am becoming accustomed to gaps between work assignments, making for a better work/life balance and in time pursuing other interests.

LOUISE POTGIETER PIGGABEEN (NEAR GOLD COAST), NSW, AUSTRALIA

After graduation, I joined the Chamber of Mines Research Lab, where I soon discovered that research was not my calling, so moved to PPC’s Technical division doing environmental monitoring. During this time, two completely unrelated but life-altering events took place. Firstly, I took a trip to Botswana with a couple of adventure tour leaders, whose captivating tales hooked me on travel for life. Secondly, I found myself renovating a flat attached to my mom’s house during a rental crisis, and discovered a talent for transforming ugly spaces!

Then in an audacious moment, and with zero sailing experience, I resigned from PPC and crewed on a yacht from Cape Town to Brazil. Mercifully, I did not drown, and soon found myself in the UK during a recession, without a British passport or a job. I returned to South Africa and worked at Sasol’s sulphur recovery plant, and then AECI, commissioning the nitrogen wash unit of Ammonia 4. AECI had an active grad program and it was a fantastic time, with my free hours spent renovating a house in Observatory.

I then joined Afrox in a technical marketing role. That came to an abrupt end after an unfortunate run-in with a man and a knife, prompting me to relocate to Sydney where serendipity struck, and I found myself in a similar role at BOC, Afrox’s sister company.

Thus began a richly varied 24-year career spanning marketing, general management, project management, tonnage supply scheme deals, strategic purchasing, and logistics. I was fortunate to travel the world with BOC, running global projects, looking for cost cutting opportunities and optimising supply chains. In my free time I renovated a little cottage, and then got ambitious, subdivided the block, and built another house in the backyard. I also managed to negotiate 50 days of unpaid leave a year, and continued to enjoy visiting different parts of the world.

In 2014, during a BOC cost cutting exercise and the promise of a generous exit package, the decision to retire was made with remarkable ease! By that time, I was with Todd—a fellow renovator and traveller. We moved to the Tweed and embarked on another major renovation/subdivision. As soon as we were done, we took to the road in our camper for a year-long journey through the USA, Mexico, and Belize, all chronicled in my “Postcards”, where my future foreign correspondent aspirations are evident!

Returning to Australia just before Covid, we found ourselves unexpectedly grounded, and relocated to a rather beautiful five-acre bush block in the Gold Coast hinterland. As soon as we were ‘allowed’, we took off again for another year-long adventure in our camper van, exploring national parks in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Now, we are largely settled back in Piggabeen and looking forward to shorter adventures. Our next is a very special class reunion and a couple of months in Southern Africa..... We are very much looking forward to meeting everyone and reconnecting again!

MARK DE KIEWIET San Antonio, Texas

I had many wonderful years at Wits, not only academics, but also student leadership and shenanigans. Several years in the Student Engineering Council lead to the South African Federation of University Engineering Students, representing South African at the overseas annual conferences for 4 years which probably started the travel bug. On the fun side, of course the Mining Engineers parties, Engineering week and at the top, Pedal Cars, competing at all 5 Engineering universities. This lead to starting a company to make an adult electric all terrain version of the pedal car for the abled and disabled.

During my Engineer-in-training, I spent time at Western Holdings, Palmiet Chrome, Marico Fluorspar ending up at Anglo’s research facilities. After professionally registering in the UK and RSA, I changed course to explosives and fracture mechanics which introduced the field of system engineering. Back to Wits to do an Industrial Engineering and a Masters in Technical Management.

Through the IOM3 I took a position at AlliedSignal’s Corporate Research in New Jersey, moving up to Corporate Director. The next Chapter was Technical Manager for World Wide Alumina at Alcoa and later Operations Manager at the Alcoa refinery in Texas. I got to manage a port, railway, power station, chemical and refinery - lots of process improvement.

After working 22 years for others, I started my own consulting company which has provided contracts at multiple locations on 4 continents.

I met Tania, my wife on a “safari” to RSA and together we have two wonderful daughters who are currently launching their own careers in Veterinary Science and Specialist Nursing.

As a distraction from work, I farm treatment free honey bees, support St John’s College and Wits University in Texas, lead the USA nature outreach program in our county.

MARK FLOWER melrose, johannesburg, south africa

After graduating at the end of 1980, I went into the chemicals industry working with Sasol until late 1987 when I left to join the EPC industry. That saw me initially engineering process units for Mossgas and other projects in South Africa, and then moving into sales and operations, and after many years with Fluor, becoming their general manager for the sub-Saharan African region.

Since 2017 I’ve been consulting in energy projects and the energy transition and working most of the time with Worley’s consulting business where I am still active when needed, most recently looking at LNG import projects in the Southern African region.

Lisa and I have been married since 1989 and we have two boys, Chris and James, both born during one of our sojourns in Durban. Chris works in corporate finance here in Johannesburg, and James is completing a degree in Mechatronics at Stellenbosch but seems to be in no great hurry. Lisa is an interior decorator and has done many home makeovers for her clients including her most recent project designing the interior for a new restaurant in Rosebank.

Outside of family, the other great passions of my life since graduating have been road and trail running, and playing hippie songs on one of my ten guitars when I feel like irritating my family. Along the way I’ve managed to do many Two Oceans marathons and a handful of Comrades, and even managed a few standards under three hours. One of my Strava buddies and member of our Chem Eng cohort, Gareth Campbell, will tell you those days are long gone and I’m reduced to short runs and dog walks these days.

I haven’t been the best in keeping in touch with our classmates but do keep in regular contact with Guy Leven-Marcon despite his world travels. I recently had dinner with Tom Gluck who is living in White River these days. Perhaps the most serendipitous reunion was bumping into Adrian Ferramosca in a supermarket in Newport Beach, California in 1995. Adrian was gracious enough to invite me to his home in Corona Del Mar, and I recall introducing him to the music of Tom Waits. Adrian’s life was never the same again.

I hadn’t had occasion to revisit the Wits Chem Eng days until recently, when I was asked to join the advisory board of the Wits Engineering Faculty by the Dean, Professor Thokozani Majozi. The annual meetings and associated tours of the engineering schools are like stepping into a time capsule back to the 70s. Wits has been very resilient, but not a lot seems to have changed in facilities of the schools in the intervening 45 years.

MARK GORDON adelaide, south australia

After graduation, I went to work in my father’s company that was in the corrosion and coatings sector. We pretreated metals by sandblasting, acid pickling and phosphating, and then coated them by spray painting or powder coating.

After being there for a few years, I left to gain more experience and joined Sentrachem Specialties Division as a process engineer. The division looked after Styrochem (polystyrene manufacture), NCP (yeast manufacture) and a few smaller product lines. While there, my father passed away and I left to run his company.

After running the company for a couple of years, the family decided to sell the business so I got a position at Sappi, in the R&D section. After a few years at Sappi, we emigrated to Australia in 1992. We moved to Adelaide, South Australia where I was employed by General Motors Holden (Car manufacturer) looking after sealers and adhesives. I transitioned into a more mechanical engineering position and was involved in the design and assembly of new cars. While at GMH, I also spent time working in Japan and Thailand.

After the GFC, the writing was on the wall that GM was going to close the Australian manufacturing operation, so I moved to SA Water (South Australian Water corporation) that managed the supply of drinking water and the treatment of wastewater for the state of South Australia. I started in the water quality group, moved on to the strategy and planning group and then into the IT data group. I retired at the end of 2018.

On a personal side, I have been married twice and have 2 daughters, a step-daughter and 7 grandchildren. I have been lucky to be able to spend time with them all due to being retired.

I started competing in triathlons just after we arrived in Australia and continued until just after I retired. I still compete in ocean swimming and fun runs, and am an active member of our local parkrun.

I also completed an MBA at Adelaide University in 2004.

MIKE HEYDENRYCH Centurion, south africa My professional journey began at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as an engineer-in-training. One of my initial projects focused on validating the efficiency of mass transfer of synthesis gas into a Fischer-Tropsch slurry reactor, a research endeavour that seemingly contributed to Sasol's subsequent construction of a commercial-scale slurry reactor at Sasol 1. This period also marked a personal milestone as I married my wife, René, in 1985.

Transitioning from this project, I undertook the challenge of developing a process for diesel production from ethylene gas. This research not only provided practical experience but also formed the basis of my Master's dissertation, which I successfully completed under Professor Glasser in 1989. Seeking broader professional exposure, I joined a consulting engineering firm specializing in systems engineering. This multidisciplinary environment offered invaluable learning experiences and prompted me to develop theories on the importance of storage buffers in chemical processes concerning process block reliability and availability. My consultancy work frequently led me back to the CSIR, eventually resulting in my return to the organization after approximately two years.

During my tenure at CSIR, I actively contributed to the South African Institution of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), particularly the Northern Transvaal branch, later known as the Northern Branch. I served as the honorary treasurer for several years and later as the president of SAIChE for two terms. This involvement fostered strong relationships with academics from the Chemical Engineering department at the University of Pretoria (UP) and led to my role as an external examiner for their design project, unknowingly laying the foundation for my future career path.

In the 1990s, I led an innovative project at CSIR focused on extracting titanium from titanium-rich slag. While fascinating, the project was concluded around 1996. Subsequently, I accepted a position in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UP. To further my academic career, I pursued and obtained a PhD from the University of Twente in the Netherlands in January 2001.

Shortly after, I was promoted to Associate Professor. My 27 years at UP were fulfilling, as I aimed to "make a difference" and had the opportunity to positively impact the lives of many young engineers.

Parallel to my professional life, I cultivated a passionate hobby: homebrewing. This endeavour not only fostered creativity through recipe development but also provided immense satisfaction in crafting and enjoying quality beer, knowing it was personally brewed.

My dedication led me to participate in competitions, notably the annual tri-nations brewing competition among South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, where I was honoured to win three times. Further pursuing this interest, I achieved certification as a beer judge through the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), an organization based in the USA. I continue to enjoy judging at beer competitions and remain an active member of the brewing community.

MIKE LAZER Surrey, United Kingdom

After university I worked for Mintek for 6 months before going to Canada to do a Masters degree. On my return I was drafted into the army, but luckily managed to carry out most of my military service working for Mintek where I stayed until September 1986.

In 1986 I married Irene and we moved to the UK, where I got a job with KBC, a consulting company focused mainly on the oil refining /petrochemical industry. I joined to help develop their refinery modelling system, then transferred to the consulting group and eventually managed this group for Europe and Asia. After KBC purchased Petroleum Economics Ltd, I helped build a strategic consulting group which combined our technical and economic knowledge. This group was involved in technical and commercial due diligence in the industry at a time when many of the large companies decided to restructure, as well as doing lots of bankable feasibility studies for large projects. I ran this group which included managing about a dozen economists.

I then took early retirement, concentrating more on dog walking and golf. During lockdown I added playing bridge to this packed schedule.

Irene and I have a daughter Kirsty, who studied economics as an undergraduate before doing a Masters in Development management. She works as an analyst in the development sector, as well giving yoga classes to Ukrainian refugees.

MIKE OBERHOLZER johannesburg, south africa

Married since 1988, I am the proud parent of two sons, a delighted grandparent, and share my home with a lively parrot. My wife and I currently reside in Cedar Lakes Lifestyle Estate in Fourways, where I spend many a peaceful hour walking the paths around the estate’s eleven lakes, appreciating the diverse birdlife and wildlife that make this place so special.

After graduation, I fulfilled two years of military service, during which I was transferred to the CSIR and completed my term as a draftsman—a role that provided a strong foundation for my future career. With the support of an Anglo American bursary, I began my professional journey in the coal mines, an experience that lasted for eighteen months before I accepted a position at a chemicals company in Germiston. There, I started in the potable alcohol distillery, and was fortunate to have the freedom to design and install distillation columns, heat exchangers, scrubbers, spray dryers, and to commission the first spray granulator— projects that attracted the friendly envy of peers outside the company.

The company was later acquired by Dow Chemicals, where I served as Process Leader and benefitted greatly from Dow’s emphasis on process safety. When Dow divested its chemical interests, I launched my own company, focusing on process safety —a field in which I have specialized in quantitative risk assessments (QRA) both locally and internationally. Along the way, I developed expertise in facilitating HAZOP, SIL, and LOPA studies, and continue to perform these for clients in South Africa and abroad.

NEIL MARTIN Surrey, England

After I graduated, I joined JCI’s Minerals Processing Research Laboratory expecting to have to work for them for 4 years to repay the bursary I had from them for the 4 years of study. That was cut into by 2 years in the military, where after basic training I refused to go on the Officers’ Training course and landed up as a bio-medical technician at 1 Military hospital, Voortrekkerhoogte.

After that tedious interlude I returned to JCI, having learned that doing Post Graduate study with them footing the bill would reduce my undergrad payback period by an additional year for every year passed, so I started doing an MBA at Wits. Having paid off JCI more rapidly than I expected I joined TrustBank doubling my salary at the same time, where I started the first Options Trading Desk at a major bank in South Africa. I moved from there to an Asset Management Firm in Johannesburg where I became the Head of Fixed Income and the Deputy Investment Chief. I still hadn’t had my adrenaline fill, so I moved to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as a Bond and Derivatives Trader and by 1992 I was Senior Partner of a mid-sized Broking Firm.

During a business trip to the UK in 1994, my wife (Jenny Palmer) was hijacked in her car with our two sons in our garage at home in Sandton. We left SA for the UK at the end of that year and I found work in the Financial Services Industry in the UK. Jenny, too found work, with a Software Company and we managed to rebuild our lives here and send our boys to Private Schools and decent Universities. Jenny retired about 20 years ago and now volunteers at Wisley Gardens (part of the Royal Horticultural Society). I continue to work in Financial Services, because as we used to say at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, it beats working for a living.

Along the way I played cricket for TrustBank, Indoor Cricket for the JSE and in the UK I have played intermittent cricket and a weekly football game, which just a year ago resulted in me requiring a full right knee replacement which, as it happens turns 1 today (27 April). I am pleased to report I was back playing football after 5 months and I’m still at it.

Along the way one of my ex-partners in the Broking firm from SA came to the UK where he made a living betting on horses using a computer system he had developed. He also sold his ratings to a group of subscribers. His wife died in 2014 and a longhidden alcoholism on his part, took over his life. He asked me to take over his system to supply his subscribers with their daily ratings which I did, he continuing to receive the payments. He drank himself to death in 2018 and his children did not want to take over the system so I continue to run it and now with a few like minded friends we have improved it with some machine learning models and the results look very promising.

PETER NOFAL perth, western australia

After graduating, my wife Elaine and I moved to Rustenburg, where I worked on the Base Metal Refinery (BMR) of Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM). This plant was newly commissioned and was a paradise for a chemical engineer with an interest in hydrometallurgy. Unit processes included continuous atmospheric and pressure leaching, cementation, precipitation in CSTRs and pipe reactors, vacuum and pressure filtration, electrowinning, solvent extraction, continuous crystallization and associated infrastructure. I worked my way up the ladder to Plant Manager over the next fifteen years, enjoying the technical and management challenges, but not the industrial relations hotbed we found ourselves in, in the late eighties. We were living in the mine village twenty km outside Rustenburg and our three sons had a very free lifestyle in the village and at the mine club. Elaine taught matric maths at the local high school.

My experience at the BMR ensured that I was able to secure a position as Operations Manager at Bulong Nickel in 1997. This operation was one of three new nickel laterite operations situated near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. I worked in the design office in Perth for the latter half of 1997 and then our family moved to Kalgoorlie in early 1998 for the commissioning and ramp up of the operation. These were exciting and challenging times as the process involved High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL), conducted in lined horizontal autoclaves; a world first at the time. The balance of the process included CCD thickener washing, multiple SX circuits and nickel and cobalt electrowinning.

Unfortunately, the economic challenges of new technology development proved too much for two of the junior mining companies and after six years both Bulong Nickel and Cawse Nickel went into receivership. The technical lessons learned were enormous and led to my new career in the consulting/engineering space. We moved to Perth and I set myself up as an independent consultant and worked on a number of nickel laterite projects, including Goongarrie in Western Australia, Goro in New Caledonia, Niquel do Vermelho in Brazil and Rio Tuba in the Philippines. I served on the Industry Advisory Committee on Rio Tuba and the Nickel Advisory Panel of the AJ Parker Cooperative Research Centre in Hydrometallurgy. Elaine went into adult education as a numeracy/literacy lecturer.

In 2005 I joined GRD Minproc, a Perth based international engineering company which specialised in complex hydrometallurgical projects. I remained with them for 16 years through many takeovers and mergers, with the company ultimately emerging as the Mining Division of the Wood Group. Most of my time with the group was as Technical Director Studies, where I was responsible for global delivery of Feasibility Studies in the Mining Division.

After semi-retirement in 2021, I undertook some part time consulting assignments until late 2024, when I retired fully to enjoy life with Elaine, our sons, their wives and our eight grandchildren. My sons have all graduated at universities in Perth, one in commerce and two in engineering.

PETER SCURR south africa

I graduated at the end of 79 whereafter I had to do my two years national service, first year in Kroonstad and the second year I was seconded to the National Institute of Metallurgy (NIM) in Randburg. This meant my second year was spent living at home which was cool but not much beer money which was not so cool.

In terms of family, I married in 84 and have three children, a son and two daughters. I still live in South Africa; however, my son and one daughter now live in NZ and the UK respectively. The other daughter lives in South Africa. I have three grandchildren, two in NZ and one in SA. Regarding my career, after national service I got myself a job at Southern Cross Steel. I was initially involved as technical support to sales and marketing mainly trying to get market acceptance of a new alloy that they had developed and had just launched. It was a great job, but eventually I convinced myself that I had had enough of customers whining and complaining and moved to the production side of things. This move proved to be something of a left turn and I really didn’t get much satisfaction from production management so when the opportunity arose to rather take on environmental management for the operation, I jumped at it. This at a time when environmental performance requirements were evolving into becoming a fairly onerous part of the business. I was quite interested in this environmental angle, so much so that I chose to do some post graduate studies in this field at the Chem Eng department of UP and came away with a qualification in Environmental Engineering.

These studies were quite fortuitous in that not long after, the company was bought out, with the new owners intending to rehash and expand the operation considerably. As part of this, I was used in the project to help with the design and specifications for the environmental plant and equipment which I really enjoyed doing. Following commissioning and start-up of the new plant I continued with process development and troubleshooting together with environmental management for the operation. I remained in the environmental field with the company until I retired.

I retired from this corporate world seven years ago and have since then been doing work for environmental consultants on a freelance basis. This together with locum work for some steel companies and for environmental process and equipment suppliers.

This too though is probably about to change as my wife is now making noises regarding wanting to also retire from her job. I am sure I will enjoy the additional time freedom this will bring as regards travelling and grandparenting, but I do have my hesitations as it will probably also mean extended periods of sitting around doing nothing - I don’t think I’ll handle that too well. I guess we will have to see - time will tell.

RINA KING emmarentia, johannesburg, south africa During final year I was offered a job and took it up at Caltex refinery in Cape Town, only going for the interview because it was a free trip! I started in 1981 and worked there until end of 1984 as a process engineer, short term planner and then long term planner. At Wits I went on a South African Voluntary Service (SAVS) camp – we built a school classroom near the Kruger Park – this set me on a different political path in my life. In CT, I was present at the UDF launch and worked weekends in Workers advice centres and Technical Advice project.

In 1985 I moved back to Joburg and joined Technical Advice Group TAG, a consultancy for COSATU, SANCO and youth organisations, after doing a 2 month research project on Silicosis in the mines.

Moving on, I decided to change political track and joined my father in Viro Locks, learning the business from 1989. In 1992, my father fell ill, passed away and I took over running the company. I also met and married Barry Dwolatzky in 1992 – a momentous year.

In the next 10 years, we had 2 children – Leslie and Jodie - (brought up in a factory), bought 2 companies, more than doubled the business, selling the company to Assa Abloy. Barry secured Professorship in Electrical Engineering at Wits and wrote a commercial computer program for optimizing the electrification program.

Changing from Managing Director to Rina King was quite a shock! I took up pottery and tried to start a company in fuel efficient wood stoves. The Vesto won the first Design Excellence Award, however could not become a business.

Sitting on the governing body when my son Les joined high school, I decided to become a science teacher and completed a PGCE in 2008, teaching for 4 years and then joined a project at Wits called RADMASTE, which is a brilliant system facilitating teaching theory and doing practical work in the same lesson, a lab in a box. Implementation still remains a challenge.

In the meantime, Barry launched a digital innovation Hub at Wits – Tshimologong and after retiring, he was appointed Director of Innovation at Wits, shortly establishing the Wits Innovation Centre, expanding innovation to the whole university. Unfortunately, Barry passed away from cancer in 2023 . He wrote a memoir called “Coded History – my life of new beginnings”, highly recommend reading!

☹

Currently, I balance my work in RADMASTE, pottery, activist work protesting the genocide of people of Gaza (the settler colonial regime in Israel), working to restore humanity in the world and a little bit of teaching and travelling.

Looking forward to seeing you all and getting to know your journeys.

ROB DE PRETTO Southbroom, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Having been a De Beers bursar, I started my career as a Plant Metallurgist at Premier Mine in 1982. Shortly thereafter I was transferred to the Diamond Research Laboratory as Senior Research Officer and became Head of R&D in 1994. As part of my career development, I moved to Venetia Mine in 1998 and became Metallurgical Manager and then Production Manager.

During this period I undertook studies in mining engineering and mineral resource management. This set me up for my next move to Namaqualand Mines as General Manager in 2004. Following a restructuring exercise in De Beers, I was appointed Technical Manager at Head Office. I expressed a desire to broaden my technical skills beyond diamond mining and was transferred to Anglo American in 2010 as General Manager of Technology, Business Improvement and Business Development.

This involved travel to operations in Russia, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Botswana, Namibia and Australia focussing on copper, PGM’s, coal, iron ore, nickel and niobium. In 2015, I assumed the role of COO at Diamcor Mining Inc and in 2018 I was appointed as CEO of Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company reporting to the Minister of Mines.

After the Covid saga, I was appointed as CEO of Firestone Diamonds operating in Lesotho where I remained until my retirement in December 2024.

During my career, I obtained a Master of Engineering degree from Wits and also completed various Management Programmes at Wits Business School and London Business School. I served on the board of ECSA and the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

I completed 8 Comrades Marathons, 4 Two Oceans and many cycling races. I am now into Padel and Pilates. I am married to Raffaella and have 2 children, Antonio (37 years) and Gabriella (33 years) and a grandson, Gustav (3 years).

I live in the tranquil conservancy of Southbroom on the KZN South Coast.

ROD HUMPHRIS johannesburg, south africa

I’m excited to share a little about my journey since we graduated from Chemical Engineering in 1979.

After completing my degree, I started with Anglo American, working as a metallurgist on gold and uranium plants at President Brand in the Free State. I was fortunate to be involved in the early days of Carbon-in-Pulp gold extraction—an exciting innovation at the time.

After 2.5 years in the mining sector, I joined the Omnia Group as a project engineer, just as the company was dramatically expanding its fertilizer operations. Over the next 34 years, I participated in a myriad of technologies working across the Group’s fertilizer, explosives, and chemicals divisions. It was an exciting career building the company from R1.1bn in 1999 to R18.6bn in 2019, serving 18 years as Group CEO and later two years as Chairman. I also served as President of the Fertilizer Society of Southern Africa and Chairman of the Chemical and Allied Industries Association. Looking back, I still miss the energy of working closely with engineering teams—even though my last few years were mostly about finance and strategy. My only lingering frustration was being unable to convince government that industrial growth is essential for national progress.

Since retiring in 2019, life has taken a gentler pace—exactly what I needed. I’ve been working my way through photographing every bird in Roberts (currently at 865!), capturing the stars through my telescope, and spending time deep in the bush— camping in exquisite reserves as Moremi and Gonarezhou among other places. International travel has been another joy, especially with my partner Steph. We’ve explored many wonderful destinations, and I’ve managed to play golf in some unforgettable places—none more so than Ireland. I also love cycling and racing, something I now share with my son David.

Meeting Steph during the COVID period was a blessing. She brought not only herself but also two amazing daughters, Loren and Megan, into my life. With my sons David and Nicholas, we’ve formed quite the blended family—especially now that I have a four-year-old grandson, Christopher, who brings boundless joy.

Looking forward to catching up with many of you at the reunion!

RODNEY JONES paulshof, johannesburg, south africa I had a Mintek bursary to study chemical engineering, and was employed in their Pyrometallurgy Division (in Randburg) for 37 years until reaching their mandatory retirement age at the end of 2019. I enjoyed having the opportunity to work on many different commodities and in numerous countries. Since 2020, I have worked from home as a Consulting Pyrometallurgist.While at Mintek, I worked as a Senior Technical Specialist, and was known for my work on Pyrosim software (used in 22 countries), and for taking a wide variety of processes involving DC arc furnaces from concept to industrial implementation. I was part of the teams that developed processes for the large-scale industrial application of direct-current arc furnace technology to the smelting of chromite in South Africa and Kazakhstan (4 x 72 MW), ilmenite smelting in South Africa (35 MW), cobalt recovery from slags in Zambia (40 MW), battery recycling in Switzerland, and ferronickel production in New Caledonia (2 x 80 MW).In my recent consulting work, I was involved with the process design and commissioning of two (solar-powered) DC furnaces for the recovery of platinum group metals from autocatalysts in Poland.

I studied for a BA degree in logic and philosophy from the University of South Africa while doing my national service, and later completed MSc(Eng) and PhD degrees in metallurgical engineering from Wits University.

I am a Past President and an Honorary Life Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), and was an Honorary Adjunct Professor in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at Wits University (2017–2023). I was a Visiting Professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1996, lectured in pyrometallurgy at Murdoch University in Perth (2002–2003), and delivered invited lectures at Akita University in Japan, as well as at other universities in South Africa and the USA. I have been a registered Professional Engineer since 1988. I am also a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE), the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), and a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and the Royal Society of South Africa.

I have been fortunate enough to travel widely (49 countries so far), often for work projects and conferences, and have taken my wife and sometimes my family on a number of those trips. I have seen five of the new seven wonders of the world (but still need to get to Peru and Jordan).

Since ‘retiring’, I have been able to do a lot more running, and enjoy parkruns, trail runs, cross country, and the occasional 10km road race. I first ran the Harrismith Mountain Race in 1977, and have now run it 15 times; my proudest moment was winning a gold medal (grandmaster 60+ age category) in 2022.I have many other interests too, including photography, philosophy, family history, and am a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society.

I married Debbie in 1983, and we have two children and three grandchildren.

SOTIRIOS ANAGNOSTOPOULOS PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

After studying Chemical Engineering, Minerals Processing Metallurgy, with side courses of Poker and Klaberjass, I married my university redhead sweetheart Jill in 1981, and we soon embarked on creating a family. Our firstborn’s arrival in 1984 involved me driving back from Sasolburg to Johannesburg at the usual breakneck speed.

After stints at JCI and Sasol Technology, I took time off engineering to assist my father run his specialised international foods supermarket. This overlapped with PM Botha’s “Rubicon” speech which did not help our imported food pricing and in 1989 we sold up, and my parents retired and returned to Greece with my two younger sisters.

At that time I chose to change careers permanently, so following my passion for investing, I joined the then fledgling profession of Financial Planning. This was mostly with Sanlam in Rosebank, but I soon went independent with Wynne Jones & Co. After a number of trips to Greece and Australia, and by then having three children, we decided to migrate to Australia.

Our visa was approved in 1994 and we moved late that year.

Settling in Perth, Western Australia, I continued Financial Planning and attained my CFP status. In 1999 I joined a national firm, Western Pacific, comprising around 50 independent advisors across Australia. This was a great opportunity as they followed a Value Investment philosophy which helped us avoid the 2000 Tech Wreck. We built on that success eventually merging with a listed firm, followed by a couple of takeovers by bigger companies.

Our annual conferences gave us opportunities to travel far and wide, including New Zealand, South East Asia, Fiji, UK, USA...

In 2005 a small group of us undertook a special investment trip to the US, attending the Berkshire Hathaway conference in Omaha and even getting some chat time with ‘the Sage of Omaha’ Warren Buffet.

We decided to retire in 2022 and now with a bit of travelling, sailing, keeping fit, and five grandchildren from our everexpanding family, we are always busy in our easy-going and laid-back Perth lifestyle.

THOMAS GLÜCK White River, Mpumalanga

I started my engineering bursars training program at ERGO in Brakpan straight after graduation. In June, I was called up for national service but was discharged three months later due to medical reasons. I resumed and completed a most memorable training program with ERGO. I left ERGO to join Fluor Engineering SA in Sandton in 1983 and worked on several projects; USCO’s DRI shaft furnace, African Products’ Corn Wet Milling project and Sasol 2 and 3 utilities debottlenecking. While at FESA, I completed a stint in Secunda as a cost and scheduling engineer.

I was let go when Fluor downsized their office in 1985 following which I worked a short spell as a freelance troubleshooting engineer for Styrochem in Germiston. I was hired by Lester Sherman, Ken’s older brother, to join Delta Manganese in Nelspruit in May of that year.

Delta became MMC (Manganese Metal Company) shortly after I joined. Lester also left MMC soon after to start an activated carbon production plant in Kabokweni, near White River This created many opportunities for me to pursue. I met my future wife, Sharon Boyce, in the Delta EMD lab and proposed to her while we camping on the Spitzkop mountain in Namibia. Sharon left Delta to help Lester set up the Carbon Developments analytical lab. We were married in 1989 and have two daughters, Jocelyn and Khendyl, who grew up closely surrounded by a large family. We supported their love of horse riding and competing by converting a plot near White River into a small stable yard.

My 23 years at MMC included completing my PhD part time under the patient supervision of Tony Bryson and exposed me to many roles and projects. My MMC experience made it possible for us to move to Vancouver in 2008 to join Baja Mining Corporation who were developing the Boleo project in Baja California Sur. I started a consulting company after Baja lost control of Boleo in 2012. In 2015 we returned to South Africa to attend to the terminal illnesses of both my and Sharon’s dads. I started working for Euro Manganese in 2016 who are developing a high purity manganese refinery in the Czech Republic. We returned to Vancouver in 2017 but I again returned to SA in 2021 to take care of my mom who had become frail. She passed away in 2023. I joined Hatch Vancouver as part time consultant in early 2023 and have started consulting to MMS, a Cape Town based metal accounting software implementation company. Sadly, we have no grandchildren as Jocelyn’s dear husband Richard, passed away after a long struggle fighting a brain tumor. Jocelyn is today the Chief People Officer for a financial startup company in Dubai while Khendyl runs the HSEC program for GCT, a container terminal operator based in Vancouver.

VAUGHN VAN HEERDEN cape town, south africa

Following our 1980 graduation, the next 20 years were eventful. I completed a brief stint of military service, followed by engineering and commissioning activities at Sasol 2/3 in Secunda.

Married my university sweetheart, Terry, in 1983 and relocated to the Vaal Triangle, joining Sasol's engineering team, including a 1 year overseas assignment in Chicago in 1985.

Completed an MBA in 1990, opening the door to a career change to global chemicals marketing based in Johannesburg.

Delighted to welcome a son & daughter into our lives and join us on our next adventure.

2001-2005 saw us relocate the family to Houston to open a sales office, providing a wonderful opportunity to explore the USA. Upon our return home to the KZN North Coast, I continued to progress my career in global chemicals marketing and feel extremely privileged to have travelled to most corners of the globe. And play lots and lots of golf...

Finally, in 2015 I took advantage of an opportunity to fulfil my goal of retiring at age 55, and focus on my property investment business.

Currently we consider Cape Town home, but with family moving between KZN/Germany/Netherlands and ongoing business interest in Queensland, Australia, who knows what the future holds...

LECTURERS FROM THE CLASS OF 1980 PROFESSOR O. B. VOLCKMAN First Head of the Department 1961 - 1978.

Lecturing: Safety and hazops, Unit Operations Guy Leven-Marcon “He woke me up with the Flixborough explosion; then introduced us to the charismatic Trevor Kletz - I have been doing Process Safety Management on and off ever since.”

PROFESSOR DAVID GLASSER Head of Department 1979 - 1983 and 1991 - 1993.

Lecturing: Reactor theory, solid-fluid systems.

Recognised for pioneering work in chemical reactor optimisation He lives with his wife Sylvia in Sydney Kevin Brooks “I was honoured to have David as my PhD supervisor and mentor” Pete Nofal Just when I thought I was grasping the E(t) concept …................ it slipped awayyyyy.

PROFESSOR TONY BRYSON (PASSED 2018) Head of the Department 1984 – 1990 and 1995 - 1998.

Lecturing: Heat and mass transfer, hydrometallurgy.

Pete Nofal “A great lecturer. Got me a First in electrochemistry and I wasn’t First material.”

PROFESSOR WILLIAM (BILL) HARRIS Lecturing: Thermodynamics, process control In 1984, he moved to RAU and became Professor of Optometry His Academia CV includes 253 papers!

Joel Kopinsky "A fantastic lecturer!"

Adrian Ferramosca "The best lecturer of all time!"

MR/ PROFESSOR DONALD WILLIAMS. PASSED 2013 Acting Head of Department 1987 – 1988, 1994.

Lecturing: Optimisation Kevin Brooks “His second-year course came as a shock to us all, but is uniformly acknowledged as the most meaningful one we did” Adrian Ferramosca “I remember the Daffy argument. It was about units. And I knew I was right. But he fobbed me off ... basically ignored my argument. So off I went to back of the class and started writing out PI to n decimals places on the board.”

Neil Martin “What also came in handy was Daffy in my first tut with him saying at my first question, "Think". I did and then raised my hand again and he said, "I thought I told you to think". I never bothered to ask another question. It has made me quite self-confident and self-resilient” Joel Kopinsky “Kevin’s brief description nailed it. Something personal to add: Williams hit me on the head once with a pencil, I always remember that, in a positive way.”

Pete Nofal “An acerbic legend. Quite rightly asked me I had micrometer eyeballs because I quoted my heat exchanger design dimensions to 2 decimal places………………….in mm!”

DR DAWID VAN DER MERWE Lecturing: Momentum transfer Recognised for his photographic memory and incredible recall.

He left Wits to join RAU in their energy labs Joel Kopinsky “A wonderful person who tried so hard to teach the NavierStokes equations. Transparency notes and blackboard notes didn't always agree...."

Guy Leven-Marcon “His desk was covered in skyscrapers of A4 paper, with just enough space open in front of him to write on another piece of A4 paper”

DR/ PROFESSOR MIKE MOYS

(PASSED 2024)

Lecturing: Joined department in late 1980 Recognised for pioneering work in milling and flotation

DR PICKETT Visiting Lecturer Lecturing: Electrochemistry, hydrometallurgy Guy Leven-Marcon “He memorably and thankfully took over Prof Glasser's class after Glasser's 4th lecture. He asked Glasser to provide him with his lecture notes to date. Glasser pulled out his overhead projector scroll of transparent film with his illegible scrawl and proudly rolled it out across his office floor. Dr. Pickett took one look and said that he would start at the beginning again; thereby giving us the opportunity to actually understand the subject.”

PROF C E MAVROCORDATOS Lecturing: Extractive Metallurgy Mark de Kiewiet “Always entertaining at the annual Metallurgy Dept dinner at the Chamber of Mines. Every year he would tell the story of his drive home from one of the dinners.

‘Driving home, I stopped at the robot, it was red and there was a car in front of me. The light changed to green but the fellow in front did not drive off. After this happened a few times, there was a knock on my car window, a policeman. He asks if there was a problem, Mavro said, no he was waiting for the fellow to drive off. The officer said: “Sir, the car in front is parked.””

DR ANDROS HEJJA Lecturing: Iron and Steel making Neil Martin “gave copious printed notes in contrast to the Glasser scrawl on the plastic roll. Of course Andros's final lecture in any subject was to discuss what the exam would consist of in great detail, making his exams quite impossible to fail. Andros also bred large spiders which he kept in glass jars in his office, making it challenging territory for arachnophobes.”

PROF PETE KING Lecturing: Particulate Systems (amongst other courses) Neil Martin “Had a habit of deriving the equations on the green boards in the old building. He would get to the end and then ask me if the equations were correct, which was actually quite easy to do.

He did invite me to do a Masters degree with him but unfortunately the military regime would no longer take no for an answer.

Amusingly we had a braai at his house after final exams and he said, "As a lecturer you find some things tricky to get used to. I managed to get used to Neil doing the crossword in my lecture, but I never managed to get used to Debbi doing her knitting.”"

PROF G G GARRETT Lecturing: Physical Metallurgy, Fracture mechanics Mark de Kiewiet “First lecture with him, he looked at me and said, ‘have we met before?’

Well we had. He was House Master of Leo Markquard residence at UCT and I was attending the SAFUES meet at UCT, staying in the Hall. A group of us from the Engineering universities had put chairs in the lift and a case of beer. He called for the lift and when the door opened, he found us having a great drunken time!”

PROF PAUL ROBINSON Lecturing: Corrosion Mark de Kiewiet “would say "better never than late" coming to his lectures. He would stop mid sentence at the end of a lecture and continue with the next word in the sentence at the next lecture.”

DR CHARLES FINN Lecturing: Pyrometallurgy and metallurgical thermodynamics.

Pete Nofal “Introduced us to the concept of “a round tuit”” Neil Martin “Was much more a friend than a distant professor type but he made that subject particularly interesting and the labs were quite fun too.”

Rodney Jones “He now lives in the USA. I am friends with him on Facebook.”

22 August 2025

Chemical Engineering 1979

Chemical Engineering 1980

Metallurgy 1980

Chemical Engineering 1981

Metallurgy 1981

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