Anthony Brewer (OW 1961)

The Waynflete Office were informed of the sad passing of Anthony (Tony) Brewer on 20 February by friend and fellow OW Desmond Cecil. Desmond kindly supplied the following words:

After leaving MCS in 1961, where his intelligence and lively mind were already well recognised, Tony Brewer went to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge to read physics, but after one year switched to economics.

After graduation, he worked for a year as an Assistant Lecturer in Economics at the University of Leeds, before moving to Bristol University in 1967, where he worked until his retirement in 2006. Tony was extremely happy at Bristol, and left only once, to spend a year at Duke University in North Carolina in 1981-2. At Bristol he was appointed Reader in 1991 and Professor of the History of Economics in 1998. The Department of Economics grew and changed enormously during his time there, and he was proud to have played an important part in developing the Graduate Studies programme. He enjoyed teaching and inspired some of the younger generation of students to go into academic life. He took great pleasure in his study of the history of economic thought, writing and publishing extensively on Smith and Cantillon, and was a Founding Member and later General Secretary of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. He served on the boards of journals in the United States and Italy and held visiting positions at Duke University (North Carolina), Antwerp University (Belgium) and Chuo University (Japan). His colleagues much respected his scholarship, common sense and humour, and will greatly miss him.

He took a lifelong interest in photography, astronomy, world history, and read widely about science. He loved to travel,but was always very content in Bristol, with a new book in his hand. He kept in touch with some old friends from MCS days, music being among the common bonds.

He leaves a wife, Janet, two sons, Rob and David, and a wide family circle where he will be sorely missed.