As much as he is taking a step back from his many, many attachments and associations with UCT, former vice-chancellor Dr Stuart Saunders remains one of the university’s most committed and called-upon supporters.

One example of this generosity was to be found at the annual luncheon of the Heritage Society on 7 December. On one hand, Saunders was stepping down as president of the society, which he founded as vice-chancellor back in the mid-1990s to honour those alumni and friends who had left a legacy – a bequest or provision – to the university in their wills.

At the same get-together, however, Saunders was deliberating in a corner with his successor in the society, Emeritus Professor Francis Wilson, on a funding proposal that Saunders had been plugging on behalf of another UCT entity. So even though he’d figured “the time had come” to resign as president of the society, says Saunders, he’s not riding off into the sunset just yet.