Tribute to Dave Walsh

David Walsh (1942-2008) died suddenly of a heart attack in January 2008. He was appointed to what was then known as the Sociology Department at Goldsmiths in 1967.  He had graduated in Sociology from Leicester University in 1964, where he was taught by Norbert Elias, Ilya Neustadt, Percy Cohen and Anthony Giddens. He went immediately to postgraduate work at the LSE and was one of the first cohort of graduates from the new taught MSc in Sociology in 1965. After two years as a lecturer at Northwestern Polytechnic (now part of London Metropolitan University) he came to Goldsmiths to teach sociological theory.  He joined a group of colleagues, among whom were Michael Phillipson and David Silverman, who began to develop through their teaching a critique of normative Anglo-American sociology from a phenomenological perspective, and which resulted in the publication of the influential New Directions in Sociological Theory in 1972.  The critique of positivist sociology that was at the core of Dave’s significant contribution to that volume has been reprinted several times since and remains an important resource in the contemporary secondary literature on sociological methods. It was also the basis for development of his further contributions to publications on which he collaborated with colleagues over the following decades – particularly in volumes edited by Chris Jenks, Clive Seale and Helen Thomas.  He had sustained an interest in Jungian studies since the 1970’s and has also published work in Harvest, the journal of the Analytical Psychology Club, London.

Dave had a considerable appetite for the many aspects of life which engaged him.  His love, and encyclopaedic knowledge of opera in particular, which extended to many other areas of musical theatre, made a visit in his company to any performance a memorable and rewarding experience. This interest also informed much of his later work, and resulted in his collaboration with Len Platt of Professional and Community Education (PACE) which produced the first book-length sociology of musical theatre, Musical Theatre and American Culture (2003). PACE will be hosting an international conference on the history and sociology of early music theatre in April this year. Dave would have been central to this conference. In his absence PACE will be paying tribute to his ground-breaking work in the field.

Dave’s contribution to sociology at Goldsmiths was not only as an academic: he was admissions tutor for many years and, as head of department from 1984/5 to 1989/90, he steered the department through a difficult period in its history. He took early retirement on grounds of ill health in 2002, but had recovered sufficiently to undertake some tutorial work for PACE between 2004-6. He will be greatly missed by his many friends and former colleagues, and remembered well by the several generations of students that he taught over his 35 years at Goldsmiths.

Paul Filmer
January 2008

Personal memories of Dave from his colleagues

Dave had a special quality when even on a dark day he would make me feel a million dollars. He was wise beyond words and his friendship was loyal, deep and true. He was full of the joie de vivre bubbling with enthusiasm and pride. He loved his life in Brighton integrating and steeping himself in the local history and culture. It was a shear delight spending days with him, chatting and listening, sightseeing, wandering the shops and lunching in his favourite haunts. I knew Dave for 20 years and I shall miss him.
Doreen Norman

Dave made a huge impression on me when I first arrived at Goldsmiths. He was welcoming, interested, entertaining, supportive … the ideal introduction to the department. He clearly loved teaching and I recall the gusto with which he discussed sociological ideas not least in relation to how they could best be taught. This enthusiasm for teaching combined with his generosity of spirit and warmth meant that students held him in the highest regard. It was around Dave that they crowded at staff-student parties. Dave was more than willing to inject a dose of realism into departmental discussions, but this was always done with the good humour of someone devoted to both the department and the College. Most of all, I remember is his explosive, operatic laugh – simply, Dave was good fun to be around.
Mike Michael

I first met Dave when he was a relatively slim and charming 28 year old. We became friends and he was a great support to me for many years as a young academic, I enjoyed his lively appreciation of our discipline. I also enjoyed his company and we spent a lot of time together. Dave was an enthusiastic and engaging teacher. As he got older he began to feel that modern academic life was not quite what he had signed on for and he never quite mastered the intricacies of the 'information society', preferring instead chalk and conversation. He had visited more places than almost anyone I know yet I always felt that he enjoyed organising the travel more than the holiday itself - perhaps that was a metaphor.
Chris Jenks

When I first joined the Department of Sociology in 1996, fresh from completing my PhD in Florence, Dave was among those who did not simply welcome me to the new job, but actually took time to do so. I attended his lectures and he attended mine. His careful and constructive feedback always suggested this was a mutual learning experience - which was enormously reassuring, not to mention flattering, to the absolute beginner that I was. In more recent times, during many conversations over dinner, he shared his reflections on the experience of life as an academic and teacher over many years. I will always cherish the healing humour with which he allowed me to contemplate the immediate preoccupations of our profession. I will always remember him for his wonderful irreverence, his capacity to both appreciate drama and to bring it down to earth. The importance of being 'earthed' was indeed a favourite theme of his, and one of the lessons in life I took from him.
Monica Greco

I liked Dave very much and really enjoyed his company. He always had interesting things to say and I liked the fact that he couldn't use email and he didn't seem to care about that. You also always knew what he was feeling and that meant you could trust him a lot, although that didn't mean he could keep secrets! Far from it – if you told Dave a secret you knew it would get around the place pretty fast because he loved circulating bits of gossip and being the first to tell you about it, even to the extent of ringing me at home with titbits that he just had to share. He was a good, entertaining and sometimes quite unstoppable talker and great for sharing critical views of 'the authorities/bosses/managers' with. At the same time he had a great feeling for sociology, although of course he did ramble on quite a bit in a Dave-like kind of way when he spoke or wrote about it, so you could learn a lot from him about that too. I know I did.
Clive Seale

Flamboyant, foodie, funny Dave. What great times we had on our many student visits to further education colleges across London. Dave's booming voice and loud guffaw would herald his whereabouts in the building better than any satellite navigation, and I'd follow along, to a room full of mature students thinking of applying to university. Anxious faces and furrowed brows would clear as the real, live, Goldsmiths admissions tutor in front of them turned out to be someone so interesting, passionate and provocative. Entire families could be persuaded of the merits of studying sociology, as we saw summer after summer, with students bringing their support network with them to find out more about the course. Dave knew this is a family decision; that it can be life changing; that things could never be the same. I'll miss the conspiratorial whisper, coffee and restaurant recommendations.
Heather McGuinness née Wooldridge

Dave's natural kindness and fairness were especially evident in the years before 1991 when he was head of department. In that time we were often in a Hobbesian war of all against all and Dave was someone who was generally trusted. I remember his clarity of thought, his scholarship and his empirical bent, when an anti-empirical theoretical pretentiousness was gathering strength. I remember too, when the head of department's room was on the first floor facing the main building on Lewisham Way, one would often see Dave's feet propped up against the window with a curl of smoke behind them, after lunchtime in the Rosemary Branch!
Sue Stedman Jones

Dave lived life to the full. His warm smile and wonderful laugh would light up any day. He was always concerned and caring for others, his students, his friends and colleagues, his work for Citizens Advice and other charities. He was a very popular and successful teacher and many of his pupils have gone on to great things. I remember in years long gone typing up chapters and papers for him from his wonderful, small handwriting that covered every inch of the page, all fascinating work and clearly from a brilliant mind. Dave was a wonderful colleague and a friend. He will be missed by many.
Karen Catling

Dave and I met first at the LSE when we signed up for the Masters in Political Sociology course 1964-65. I remember Dave as very bright, friendly and funny and was very pleased when later he joined colleagues and myself at Goldsmiths. We had some good arguments in the late sixties about phenomenology and the book he wrote with Silverman, Phillipson and Filmer was an important contribution to the debate in the early seventies. I was delighted very recently to meet Dave again at dinner in Brighton. We had a great chat about times past and followed it up with a lunch at Brighton University. Dave gave me a note of a lecture he wanted to give for us on musicals and we were all set to fix this up. I last spoke to Dave just two days before his heart attack to rearrange another dinner date. I am so sad that, having met up again after so long, there is no more time to pursue our friendship. His untimely death is a great loss.
Sue Balloch

I had known Dave for over 30 years, first as my tutor in Sociology at Goldsmiths, then as my head of department when I was a visiting lecturer, and then as a colleague in the department and last but not least, as a dear friend. I was shocked to hear of his death. Dave phoned me from his home in Brighton on 19 December to say that he was going to do some voluntary work and asked if he could put my name down as a referee. Usually Dave wanted to talk for some time but on that occasion, he just said, “Thanks. Cheers - happy Christmas,” and off he went. I came off the phone and said that that was the shortest phone call I had ever had from Dave. Last Monday, Doreen phoned me at work to tell me that he had died soon after New Year.

We have talked a lot about Dave at home and with former colleagues and friends over the past week and have laughed and cried a lot. If you ever wanted to know about a potential travel or holiday destination, Dave was the person to contact. Even if he had not been there - and he probably had - he could tell you which route to take, the best sights to see and where to eat. Travel and food were two of his personal passions.

One of the things my husband said when I told him that Dave had died was, “What will happen to all that knowledge of sociology which Dave possessed?” My immediate response was that he had passed it on down the line over the years. Above all, for me, Dave, was a consummate teacher, who passed on his unparalleled knowledge of the classical tradition and the work of Max Weber in particular, to many generations of students and colleagues.

Dave was my third year tutor in the late 70s in the days when we had one-to-one tutorials lasting at least one hour every week and he was a hard but kind, task-master. Despite my resistance, he made me read Parsons' difficult work, 'The Social System' and insisted I write an extended essay on it, with the words, “You are going to have to do it sometime.” Although I hated it, the process of confronting intellectual ideas or traditions which you do not like by seeing (or reading) them through to the end, as Dave and Weber might say, has become second nature and one which I encourage students to do also.

When postmodern theory became the new mantra in the early 1990s, Dave was one of the first to meet it head on with persuasive argument based on his critical and extensive reading on the subject. He did not just repeat his lectures, or rest on what he already knew, but wrote them out in full every single year in his unmistakable handwriting (purposely never having got to grips with the world of computing). I feel privileged to have been a recipient of that knowledge and understanding and hopefully, in turn, like other former students, I have also passed this down the line, In that way, I feel, Dave will be present for many of us for years to come. After he retired formally, Dave wrote a book with Len Platt on the musical theatre, which, like opera, was one of his passions. To this work, he gave the same dedication and superb scholarship that he had given to the classical tradition of sociology. I am sure his students on the part-time degree course also gained much from his lectures.

Dave and I kept in touch after he retired and we visited him in Brighton last year, where he seemed to be very content. I will miss him and will continue to think of him fondly as a friend and a remarkable and dedicated teacher.
Helen Thomas, Director of Research, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

When I became Head of the Communications Department (as it then was), after a mere two terms in academia, I found myself working closely with Dave Walsh - it was terrifying. We were a small upstart department running just one undergraduate course - Communications and Sociology - there was no doubting which department was the senior partner. Dave Walsh and his colleagues were a formidable team, superficially challenging but in fact very supportive. Dave was a great Head of Department, I learnt a huge amount from him, particularly how he never allowed department differences to turn into personal antagonisms. He recognised that we were both defending our respective patches and whatever differences we might have had in meetings, in the Rosemary Branch, Dave was never less than warm and welcoming. He was collegiate and congenial; a man of great integrity, sharp intellect and a doughty defender of his subject area. I was never taught by Dave but he was one of the best teachers I ever encountered at Goldsmiths.
Ivor Gaber
Head of Department Media and Communications 1986-1994