| The Phillip V Tobias Health Sciences Building officially opened on Wednesday 29 October 2014. Located at the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences in Parktown, Johannesburg, the PV Tobias Building is part of the Faculty’s expansion to accommodate the increasing demand for health care professionals. Health Sciences alumni rallied to contribute towards cementing the legacy of their iconic mentor, Emeritus Professor Phillip Tobias Earlier this year the Class of 1964 raised over R130 000 in an appeal led by alumni Dr Martin Colman, Dr Saul Isroff, and Dr Harkishan Magan to graduates in the USA, UK, South Africa, Israel and Australia.
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| Class of 1964: Back row L-R: Paige Kaplan, Bernard Kaplan, John Lonstein, Dean Martin Veller, Saul Isroff, Harkishan Magan. Middle row: Adrian Martin, Cynthia Cohen Shulman. Front row: Ernest Levy, Dorothy Becker, David Schwartz, Martin Colman. |
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L-R: Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr Martin Veller, Dr Peter Weston, Vice-Chancellor & Principal, Adam Habib |
“It was our way of saying thank you to Wits for the excellent education we received there and which has enabled us to make successful careers and contribute to medical care around the world,” said Dr Colman, Professor and Chair at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Ten members of the Class of ’64 and their spouses attended a 50th anniversary luncheon in Charleston, South Carolina, as part of the larger bi-annual Wits Medical School Alumni 50th Anniversary Reunion. In total 55 alumni attended the three-day gathering. They were joined by alumnus and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adam Habib, and the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, alumnus Dr Martin Veller, who brought the attendees up to date on developments at Wits and at the Medical School. Last year, alumni from the Medical School Class of 1983 raised over R151 000 for the building as part of their 30th anniversary commemoration of their graduation. Dr Michelle Reisner at Jersey City Medical Center said, “Tobias was such a role model, inspiration and mentor to many of us. It was a privilege to be taught by a man of that calibre. We were delighted to contribute to something that honours him.”
Phillip Vallentine Tobias (14 October 1925 – 07June 2012) spent over 60 years at Wits as an undergraduate student, an alumnus who held six Wits degrees, an academic, a Professor, Department Head, Dean, Emeritus Professor, Honorary Professorial research Fellow and Director of the Sterkfontein Research Unit. While he was internationally celebrated and respected for his research in the field of palaeoanthropology, his greatest loves were the study of anatomy and the training of Witsies. |
