Honoured N.Z. scholar, Prof. Mackenzie, dead

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 10

Honoured N.Z. scholar, Prof. Mackenzie, dead

PA Wellington One of New Zealand’s most distinguished scholars, Professor Fraser Mackenzie, has died aged 73. He was born at Karori in November, 1905, the youngest son of the late Professor Hugh Mackenzie, one of the four foundation professors of Victoria University. Educated at Wellington College, Professor MacKenzie went on to graduate from Victoria University, where he was awarded a post-graduate scholarship to study at the Sorbonne, in Paris. Three years later he was ready to present his thesis for the Sorbonne doctorate but was advised to withhold it, write a complementary thesis and present the whole work for the State doctorate — the highest degree the Sorbonne can confer and one that few English-

speaking people have held

Six years as an assistant lecturer in French at St Andrew’s University enabled him to complete his studies for the State doctorate in 1939. But the war intervened and it was not until 1946 that Professor Mackenzie was able to appear before six French professors and gain his doctorate. Meanwhile, he had become a senior lecturer in French at Aberdeen University. After the fall of France and Dunkirk, he was seconded from the university to lecture to the Royal Navy on France and world affairs.

With a captain’s rank he lectured for five years, travelling on British warships to naval bases in Iceland, the Mediterranean, Ceylon, India and Burma. In 1946 Fraser Mackenzie was appointed pro-

fessor of French language and literature at the University of Birmingham, a position he held for 27 years, returning to live in Wellington in 1973. In 1948 he pioneered exchanges of French language professors between Birmingham and Montpellier Universities.

In 1952 Montpellier conferred on him an honorary doctorate. An honorary doctorate from Laval University, Quebec, was a tribute to his work at Birmingham University in furthering the study and knowledge of FrenchCanadian culture and civilisation.

In 1954, the French Government acknowledged his contribution to Anglo-, French relations by making him a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. A bachelor, Professor Mackenzie is survived by a brother, Craig, of Lower Hutt.