Scholar, activist and friend: UCT's Dr Neville Alexander died on 27 August.

UCT mourns the loss of retired Dr Neville Alexander, acclaimed linguist, academic and anti-apartheid struggle veteran, who died on 27 August following a battle with cancer. "His incredible impact on the UCT community but also on society as a whole is a profound legacy," said vice-chancellor Dr Max Price, in a message to the UCT community. Among his many other roles at UCT, Alexander is known as the founder of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa, aka PRAESA, which he established in 1992. His most recent work focused on the tension between multilingualism and the hegemony of English in the public sphere. "In particular, he played a leading role in developing and shaping an agenda of multilingualism, which advocated the centrality of language for education and nation building," said UCT colleagues Professor Kelwyn Sole and Associate Professor Rochelle Kapp in a joint note. (PRAESA held a memorial service for Alexander on 31 August in the Beattie Building.)