William Blankley

8 May 1953 to 8 September 2013

William was a quirky introvert who had a huge heart and touched many people’s lives.  He was a hippy in the seventies, a marine biologist, a respected scientist, an avid collector of antique bric-a-brac, at times a wild party animal but most of all he was a dear friend to all of us here.

William grew up in Durban and was educated first at Cordwalles in Maritzburg and then at Kearsney in Botha’s Hill.  He was a true Durban boy who loved surfing - started at school and for quite a long time after…  From 1973–1977 he went to University of Natal in Maritzburg, he majored in Psychology and zoology.  (He took a break in 1976.) While in Maritzburg he fell in love with Patricia Murray. They were two happy flower children and were inseparable. The ending of their relationship broke William’s heart and it marked him for the rest of his life.

                                                       
In 1978 he moved to Cape Town where he began his MSc in Marine Biology. In 1979 he spent a year on Marion Island conducting his studies. By 1982 he had completed his MSc in Marine Biology. In the meantime, in 1981 he met Vanessa when he went on a weekend up the west coast with some friends. At the time, Vanessa was engaged to a good friend of William’s. Needless to say, they did not remain friends for very long after that weekend. William and Vanessa got married, as William once said, “because she looked like Patricia”. Vanessa loved animals. They moved to Durban in 1982 where William worked for the Oceanographic Institute (the Durban Aquarium) and Vanessa worked as a botanical artist. The marriage did not last long and Vanessa left William because, as he said, “she loved her horse more than she loved me”.

In 1984 William moved to Luderitz to work for the Department of Sea Fisheries. He was wined and dined by the fishing companies who hoped for concessions from him. He disliked the fact that the BCom’s would tell him what to do, so he decided to do an MBA. He stayed in Luderitz until 1987.

In 1988 William moved into the house of his late, great friend from Cordwalles, Dave Brooks, in St Michael’s Road, and embarked on his MBA studies at UCT. He shared Dave’s great love of wild parties and St Michael’s Road hosted many a memorable party. During his studies William was the life-and-soul of many a party in the Brig (a pub) at the GSB where he would explode out of his shell after a few drinks.

Having finished his MBA he went to work for an NGO developing a market and business model for the production and sale of seaweed in the Philippines. He was disturbed by the grinding poverty that he found there and left after a few months. He then went off to London in a vain attempt to save the family delicatessen. H.Blankley and Sons.

On returning from his travels he worked as manager of the Strategic Advice Unit of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in Pretoria. He was involved in research, reporting and advising on a wide variety of issues in science and technology and the national system of innovation.

In July 2002 he joined the new Knowledge Management division of HSRC, initially in Pretoria until he moved back to Cape Town. He worked on the R&D and Innovation surveys with the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, Statistics South Africa, the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He managed the NACI-commissioned project on the mobility of R&D workers, and was a co-author of the eventual publication Flight of the Flamingos. His work on the surveys has national and international recognition.

William is the senior author or co-author of 22 journal articles, has been the main author or editor of three books, and has contributed chapters to six books and four international conference proceedings.

A very bad nose bleed about 4 years ago gave William a fright and alerted him to his high blood pressure which slowed his partying.

William was an avid collector of antique bric-a-brac. Every Saturday morning he would be at the Milnerton market, rummaging through the “junk”, looking for treasure. He would then come through to Church Street and Long Street looking for new stock.  In fact his flat was filled to bursting point with his treasure.

William was so looking forward to his retirement, which started on 1st June this year. His idea was to set up a stall or rent a small shop in Church Street in Cape Town to sell his treasures.

This was not to be. He learnt of his severe cancer in early August.

He never did get to live this dream.

Contributed by George Tatham on the occasion of William's Memorial Service