The Times

Obituario aparecido en el diario británico The Times, 18 de febrero 2008:

Colin White, English language and literature academic, was born on January 23, 1932. He died on December 6, 2007, aged 75

Colin White was a leading academic at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) for over 40 years.

Born in 1932, he grew up in the suburbs of London, and after national service he read English at Queen’s College, Cambridge, making friends with the poet Ted Hughes.

In 1956 White left Britain for a series of jobs in Canada, eventually arriving in Mexico, where he began giving English lessons at the Anglo Mexican Cultural Institute, a large not-for-profit foundation.

He went on to secure a post in UNAM’s department of English language and literature in the faculty of philosophy and letters and by the late 1970s had been promoted to joint head of department. There he played a major role in the development of English language and literature curricula and radically increased the number of postgraduate students.

Passionate about education for all, White became a mainstay and champion of the university’s fledgeling open university. From 1992 to 1998 he served as head of the professional studies division at UNAM, and in 1997 he was awarded the university’s national prize for humanities teaching.

Throughout his career White made a point of teaching at all levels. His death triggered an outpouring of blogs by students past and present (eg, colinwhitemullerinmemoriam.wordpress.com/los-blogs-recuerdan/). These bloggers are representative of the generations of Mexican students for whom White was an inspiration — someone who, despite a language barrier, imbued them with a true love of English literature, especially poetry.

White was something of a polymath, read voraciously and was deeply interested in history and social welfare. In his spare time he pursued a love of sailing and a fascination with boat-building, constructing three sea-going sailing boats. He is survived by his wife, Liz, their son and daughter.