Political scholar played great rock'n'roll piano
Obituary
Dr Gordon White, a former lecturer (1973­1978) in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, died in England on April 1 at the age of 55. He was one of the world's leading scholars of Chinese politics. His career - at Oxford, Cornell, Stanford, the ANU, and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex - was marked by enormous productivity -18 books and nearly 100 articles - vigorous teaching, generous collegiality, warm friendship and loud music. Gordon played a driving rock'n' roll piano. One of his later colleagues, Bob Benewick, remembers him performing the East is Red boogie to a stunned audience of People's Army soldiers in the early 1970s. Gordon's wit and energy remained with him as he struggled with pain, surgery and, eventually, life in a wheelchair. There was always laughter. Gordon's first marriage was to Christine Pelzer (whom he met at Cornell) who also became a member of the Department of Political Science. His second marriage was to the South Asia scholar, Barbara Harris. On his last visit to Canberra Gordon's delight in his life with Barbara and her two daughters, Kaveri and Eleanor, was transparent. He knew happiness. And he created it. Those of us who knew him at ANU and afterwords will miss him. Academia has lost a fine scholar. His family and friends have lost a good man. David Adams Deputy Dean Faculty of Arts