Wilf Malcolm
{{Short description|New Zealand mathematician and university administrator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Wilf Malcolm
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|size=100%}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Wilfred Gordon Malcolm
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|11|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = Feilding, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|10|06|1933|11|29|df=y}}
| death_place = Auckland, New Zealand
| fields = Pure mathematics
| workplaces = Victoria University of Wellington
| alma_mater = Victoria University of Wellington
| thesis1_title = Ultraproducts and higher order models
| thesis1_url = https://viewer.waireto.victoria.ac.nz/client/viewer/IE908964/details?dps_dvs=1539078255004~335
| thesis1_year = 1972
| doctoral_advisor = George Hughes
Max Cresswell
C.J. Seelye
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| spouse = {{marriage|Edmée Ruth Prebensen|1959}}
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| module = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes
| office = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato
| term_start = 1985
| term_end = 1994
| predecessor = Don Llewellyn
| successor = Bryan Gould
}}
}}
Wilfred Gordon Malcolm {{post-nominals|country=NZL|size=100%|CBE}} (29 November 1933 – 6 October 2018) was a New Zealand mathematician and university administrator. He was professor of pure mathematics at Victoria University of Wellington from the mid 1970s, until serving as vice-chancellor of the University of Waikato between 1985 and 1994.
Biography
Born in Feilding on 29 November 1933, Malcolm was educated at Feilding Agricultural High School. He went on to study at Wellington Teachers' College and Victoria University College, graduating Master of Arts with first-class honours in 1957.{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university15.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Ma |website=Shadows of Time |accessdate=9 October 2018}}{{cite news | url=https://nzmathsoc.org.nz/downloads/profiles/NZMSprofile33_Wilf_Malcolm.pdf | title=Professor Wilf Malcolm | date=April 1985 | work=NZMS Newsletter | issue=33 | accessdate=9 October 2018}}{{cite thesis |last=Malcolm |first=Wilfred |year=1972 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=Ultraproducts and Higher Order Models |publisher=Open Access Repository Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria University of Wellington |doi=10.26686/wgtn.16958536|doi-access=free |url=https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Ultraproducts_and_Higher_Order_Models/16958536/1/files/31373422.pdf }} He won a Shirtcliffe Fellowship, which enabled him to take parts II and III of the Mathematical Tripos, specialising in algebra and topology, at the University of Cambridge. While in England, Malcolm married Edmée Ruth Prebensen.
Malcolm returned to Victoria, where he took up a lecturership in pure mathematics. Between 1964 and 1966, he spent time away from the university, working as the general secretary of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions. However, he returned to lecturing at Victoria in 1967, and was promoted to senior lecturer the following year. In 1972, he completed his PhD thesis, titled Ultraproducts and higher order models, supervised by George Hughes and Max Cresswell from the Department of Philosophy, and C.J. Seelye from the Mathematics Department.{{CiteQ|Q111966094|type=Doctoral thesis}}
In 1985, Malcolm moved to the University of Waikato to take up the vice-chancellorship, serving in that role until 1994.{{cite web | url=https://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/officershonoursstaff/vicechancellors.html | title=Former vice-chancellors of the University of Waikato | publisher=University of Waikato | accessdate=9 October 2018}}
Malcolm was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=239}} In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to tertiary education.{{London Gazette |issue=53697 |date=11 June 1994 |page=34 |supp=2}} The following year, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato.{{cite web | url=http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/officershonoursstaff/doctors.html | title=Honorary doctors of the University of Waikato | publisher=University of Waikato | accessdate=9 October 2018}} The Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research at Waikato was named in his honour in 2002, in recognition of his contribution to education.{{cite web |url=http://www.gaps.net.nz/academy-and-christ |title=Academy and learning |website=Art in the Gaps |accessdate=9 October 2018}}
Malcolm died in Auckland on 6 October 2018.{{cite news | url=http://notices.nzherald.co.nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/obituary.aspx?n=wilfred-gordon-obe-malcolm-wilf&pid=190414855 | title=Wilfred Gordon Malcolm death notice | date=8 October 2018 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=9 October 2018}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{s-bef|before=Don Llewellyn }}
{{s-ttl|title=Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato |years=1985–1994}}
{{s-aft|after=Bryan Gould }}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Wilf}}
Category:People educated at Feilding High School
Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:New Zealand mathematicians
Category:Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington
Category:Academic staff of the University of Waikato
Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire