A renowned scholar in his field, Emeritus Professor Robert Jefferies died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 8. He was in Toronto to visit family before he planned to return to Churchill, Manitoba where he was conducting research.
“Bob” Jefferies will be remembered for his dedication to his students as well as his significant research on the arctic. He was loved by both faculty and students and was always happy to get his hands dirty alongside pupils and research assistants.
Jefferies grew up in Somerset, England. He cited his mother, who was passionate about natural history, as the person who awakened his interest in what became his life’s work. After completing a PhD in plant ecology at the University of Bristol, he came to U of T in 1975.
His passion for teaching never faded. He helped create BIO150, a required course for many science students, and was the only professor to have taught the course every year since it began in 1990.
Every year he spent the summer with a handful of students on the Hudson Bay coast studying large snow geese populations and their effect on the arctic landscape—a project he worked on for over 30 years.
As a result of his research, Jefferies became a Canadian representative for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Along with other IPCC members, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize when the organization won the award in 2007.
Jefferies was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. His funeral service will be held in private. In September the university and the Faculty of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology will hold a ceremony to celebrate his life.
