Remembering John Buttrick

The last Bulletin had a brief mention of the death of John Buttrick in a car accident on Gabriola Is., B.C. He was 88 and a long-time member of Science for Peace.

He was a fearless and long-time fighter for peace, a conscientious objector in the second World War and actively helped a large number of refugees from the Vietnam draft and more recently deserters from the US military service Iraq. When they moved to Gabriola Is. he helped to set up the Gabriola chapter of War resisters to support a resister living there.

Born in the US, he held professorships in economics there but left his position as Chair of the Economics Dept. at the Univeristy of Minnesota in protest to the Vietnam war. He joined the faculty of York in 1970 where he was the director of the Graduate Program in Economics during its formative years and was associated with York’s centre for Research on latin America and the Caribbean.

He held visiting Professorships in many countries and after retirement he and Ann moved to Jamaica where he was involved in research for the Jamaican government and other Latin American countries.

An example to the end of good humour and integrity, his motto was “Never stop questioning, always be skeptical, and never be afraid to stir up a hornet’s nest.”