Humbly and profoundly, you united people.  At our “Friday  Munch”, you listened and connected with people coming from diverse ways of life. You transcended the confines of disciplines and university boundaries with grace and ease.

 It is hard to imagine the UVIC campus without  Rod Dobell.  You were a model academic, and I hope in some ways we carry the legacy of joyful curiosity, kindness, compassion, and generosity.

Ana Maria Peredo

Miriam Müller-Rensch

Lucy Bashford

Budd Hall

Oliver B

Rowan Salverda

I don’t fully remember how the introduction came about, except that Lauren Dobell and Mervyn Brockett were both involved. But I vividly remember my first conversation with Rod, in which the dreary old Public Admin lobby behind the library somehow started glowing with curiosity, warmth, and fun.

Based on that one conversation, and knowing virtually nothing about me, Rod hired me in his new capacity as President of IRPP down in University House 3. It was never entirely clear what the job was. Rod would sit around brainstorming with me about interesting ideas, then let me go mess with them for a few days. In subsequent conversations, he would point me toward what he thought were the most interesting and fruitful avenues to explore (which they always were), then help me sharpen them into whatever product seemed suitable – speeches for him to deliver, notes for IRPP newsletters, longer papers for Policy Forum, and such.

In those two years working for Rod, he helped me nurture an intellectual enthusiasm that I was at risk of losing, encouraged me to pursue exciting ideas, and helped me find my intellectual ambition. This experience brought me to the decision, with Rod’s counsel and support, to apply to doctoral programs in places I had never imagined I would set foot in. In a very concrete sense, I owe Rod for the wonderful and rewarding career I’ve had since then.

Over the intervening years I've learned much more from Rod, and as I moved further in academic and policy circles, got an increasingly clear view of just how remarkable he was. He didn’t just teach and mentor about the content of the work, but also about how to do it with integrity and grace – how to make a happy and productive team in which everyone’s contributions are valued; how to navigate fraught boundaries between disciplines and professional communities; how to handle difficult situations and difficult people with tact and kindness. He was always at the center of making interesting new things happen, always contributing a huge amount, and always more interested in learning something new and helping others succeed than in having it his way or – God forbid – in getting credit.

Moreover, over time I came to realize that my experience was not unique: I saw Rod do what he did for me for dozens of other people – and also, increasingly, came to realize that he’d been doing it for dozens more, long before I met him.

Rod was a brilliant, rigorous, and original thinker. He was interested in everything and saw connections everywhere. He was enthusiastically interested in other people’s ideas, especially those of the most junior and likely to be overlooked people, always interested in learning something new or seeing a new perspective on something familiar. And he always found, and focused on, the positive. He had a knack for recognizing the most fruitful and elegant ideas in a big sprawl, the little kernel of insight or originality in an otherwise unpromising project – and helping the author see it and develop it.

Rod kept his childlike openness, his curiosity and enthusiasm, and his sparkle, into very advanced age, including bearing years of physical limitation and what I can only guess must have been severe pain with an astonishing grace. I never heard him complain about anything, and I never heard him speak an unkind word about anyone.

He was an extraordinary man – a radiant mind and a radiant heart – who I realize I’m remarkably fortunate to have known. My condolences to Rod’s family, friends, students, and colleagues, as we all grieve his loss.

Ted Parson

I'm grateful that I got to do a short interview with him last May as part of the POLIS Water Sustainability Project's 20-year anniversary reflections. When I asked him if he had any favourite POLIS memories, he responded, "Any of several occasions of loud brainstorming sessions over odd food in University House 4! And the Watersheds 2014 gathering, which was held at the Quw’utsun Cultural and Conference Centre. I was invited to be a witness and offer a statement at this event, and I saw this gathering as a bit of a turning point in the working relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous neighbours around water challenges."

Rod and I also had a shared affinity with Pete Seeger. After I heard about Rod's death, I put on "Quite Early Morning," one of my favourite Pete Seeger songs. It seemed appropriate, especially given how many people have benefited from and thrived because of Rod's advice, wisdom, and intellect...

"And when these fingers can strum no longer, hand the old guitar to young ones stronger..."

In fact, the first interaction I can ever remember having with Rod was in 2011. He came down the stairs at University House 4 to find me (then the new, young POLIS hire) and ask if I could sing a protest song he'd written about Stephen Harper :)

~Laura Brandes

I would like to extend my condolences to his family and my thanks to them for sharing him with us.

Liseanne Forand

As I have grown as a teacher and scholar, I have frequently thought of Rod's example. I have been lucky to be with Rod at many conferences, events, dinners, and talks. Inevitably, Rod could be found sitting with the most junior person in the room, asking that person about her work, interests, and ideas. I benefited from that interest for many years, and hope to give a small piece of that curiosity and kindness to the next generation.

I will miss the frequent emails with articles he thought I would like to read. And I will miss him very much.

I am so sorry for his passing.

Rod was a truly remarkable man defined by his character and well as his curiosity and intelligence.

I am so sorry for your loss Marnie, Lauren, Darcy and Ken.

Catharine Read