InMemoriam.qxd


PROFESSOR BAREND LESSING

1941 – 2005

‘Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value …’

– Einstein, Albert

The SA Journal of Human Resource Management sadly notes the

passing away of the former Chairperson of the Department of

Human Resource Management, Professor Barend Lessing on 11

January 2005. He was employed by the former Rand Afrikaans

University (RAU) – firstly as Senior Lecturer, later as Professor.

Lessing served as Chairperson of the Department RAU from 1995

to July 2003. Under his leadership the Department flourished

and experienced significant prosperity and was acknowledged as

one of the foremost Departments of Human Resource

Management/Industrial Psychology in South Africa. He stepped

down to become actively involved in the transformation of the

University as Chairperson of the Human Resources Task Team

for the Incorporation and Merging Process of the University, and

as Project Leader for the implementation of a new Performance

Management System for the University in August 2003.

Acknowledged for his fundamental contributions to the former R AU and in South Africa

towards the status of and academic capacity building in Human Resource Management, Human

Resource Development and in Distance Education, Lessing pioneered the establishment of

Training Management as a new discipline in South Africa in the early 1980s. He was been a

major driving force in the implementation of extracurricular and distance education courses in

Human Resource Development at R AU – an accomplishment that opened up high-quality

higher education opportunities in this field to thousands of previously disadvantaged South

African students. 

Under his leadership, the Training Management discipline (currently referred to as Human

Resources Development (HRD)) was transformed into a widely-acknowledged and prestigious

academic programme with a variety of courses. He elevated the field of Human Resources

Development at RAU from being viewed as a functional discipline within organisations, to that

of a science worthy of academic study.

Praised for his initiative, intellectual capacity and creativity, Lessing networked constructively

as Founder and first Programme Leader of the HRD Programme with international colleagues to

find the most beneficial way of stimulating and promoting departmental initiatives and

research. Despite the difficult political situation in South Africa and international boycotts in

the early 1980s, he succeeded in making contact with international academics for benchmarking

purposes and obtained relevant study material.

Lessing is listed in Who's Who in the World.  The Institute of People Management presented

him with the Presidential award in 1977 and the HRD Person of the Year award in 1991. He was

also honoured in Austin (Texas) in March 2004 when he was inducted in the International

Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame as Member of the Class of 2004. The Hall of Fame

acknowledges those who have made distinguished contributions to the field of adult and

continuing education. A wall plaque, commemorating some of the major accomplishments of

each of the inductees, is being displayed at the University of Okahoma’s Center for

Continuing Education.

The current Chairperson of the Department, Prof Kobus Slabbert, paid tribute to him as a man

who had become so much a part of the Department that it is difficult to imagine it without

him. He praised him for his impartiality towards academic and administrative staff, his

Christian values, loyalty and modesty.  He was valued and admired by former colleagues and

friends for the qualities he displayed: namely integrity, commitment, loyalty and dedication to

the task at hand.

IN MEMORIAM