Professor RDC Black, DSC 1988,  died December 7th, 2008

(Obituary published in Irish Times on 3 January 2009)

Professor Robert Black joined Queen’s in 1945 as assistant lecturer. In an illustrious academic career he went on to become head of the department of economics for 23 years from 1962 to 1985. He was also Dean of Faculty (1967-1970) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1971-75).

After his retirement in 1985 he became Emeritus Professor of Economics at Queen’s. He spent time researching and lecturing in Japan and in America, notably at Yale where he was Visiting Professor of Economics, and at Princeton, where he held the position of Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow. Professor Black authored or edited over 70 publications including Economic Thought and the Irish Question (Cambridge, 1960), The Economic Writings of Mountifort Longfield (New York, 1971), and Economic Theory and Policy in context: the Selected Essays of R.D. Collison Black (Aldershot, 1995).

Professor Black received a number of honorary awards, including a Fellowship from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Doctorate from Queen’s in 1988. He chaired the Committee of Inquiry into Angling in Northern Ireland, and the Commission of Inquiry into the establishment of a Wages Council in the catering industry, Northern Ireland, as well as being a member of the Industrial Court for Northern Ireland.

 

 

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