On 9 June, FABI’s Professors Mike and Brenda Wingfield joined colleagues from the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (CAS) in organising a symposium to highlight the scholarship and remarkable academic legacy of Professor Robin Crewe. The symposium, concurrent with his 80^th birthday year was hosted by CAS that was established at the University of Pretoria by Prof. Crewe and which he headed for several years. 

Speakers in the symposium included The Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, Prof. Francis Petersen, Prof. Nolwazi Mkhwanazi (Director of CAS), Prof. James Ogude (a previous Director of CAS), and Prof. Peter Vale (CAS Fellow). Prof. Christian Pirk of UP’s Department of Zoology and Entomology led a panel discussion including Prof. Robin Moritz of Halle University in Germany and with whom Prof. Crewe co-authored the authoritative book “The Dark Side of the Hive: The Evolution of the Imperfect Honeybee”.  The panel discussion also included Professors Yusuf Abdullahi Ahmed and Prof. Catherine Sole (both of the Department of Zoology and Entomology) who reflected on their academic paths and their interactions with Prof. Crewe. Several of the speakers spoke passionately on how Prof. Crewe had impacted or guided their respective academic careers.

Prof. Mike Wingfield, reflected on his long and close relationship with Prof. Crewe, who played a pivotal role in the establishment of FABI. He noted that Prof Crewe was one of the University of Pretoria academic leaders that had convinced him and Prof Brenda Wingfield Mike to move the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) together with a large group of staff and students to the University of Pretoria and thus to establish FABI.  He noted that the TPCP has grown to accommodate one of (if not the) largest programmes dealing with tree health globally, and that owed much of its early success to the vision and support of Prof. Crewe.