OBITUARY | Eddie Webster: Mourning the immeasurable legacy of a teacher and influential sociologist

Professor Edward Webster pioneered the academic study of the sociology of work and labour in South Africa. Webster is the author of several books and over 100 academic articles, as well as numerous research reports. He enjoyed interacting with students and supervised almost fifty students. He will be dearly missed by colleagues in the higher education sector, by comrades in the labour movement, by students, friends and family, and many, many people who feel honoured to have made his acquaintance.

Eddie Webster made an immeasurable contribution to the labour movement through the establishment of the Sociology of Work Programme at Wits University and, more recently, as the first interim director and then distinguished research professor at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies. For his scholarly contributions, commitment to and advancement of democracy through labour activism, and the nurturing of several generations of leading labour sociologists, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Wits in 2017.