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Stanley Victor Boxer F/Mc Married: 1923 Jessie Alice Stevens F/Mc | |||||
| Alan Howard Boxer [CFT #4508] Born: 1927 Died: 2014-Jan-28 |
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| b Hong Kong Alan Boxer, distinguished economist, public servant and noted art collector died in Canberra on 28th June 2104, aged 86. Alan received his early education at a boarding school in the then Peking. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Alan with his mother and two sisters was evacuated from Hong Kong to Melbourne. After completing his education at Scotch College as Dux of the School in 1946, Alan in 1945 obtained at the University of Melbourne a first class honours Arts degree , majoring in economics. He then spent two years at Christ Church, Oxford where he was awarded a BPhil. Appointed a Lecturer in the Department of economics in 1952, Alan was later promoted to Senior Lecturer and Reader. He specialised in public finance, becoming a leading academic in the field. As a teacher he was very effective and in a quiet way helped many students to reach their potential. As well as a heavy teaching commitment, Alan fitted in a long period of effectively editing the Economic Record, running the Victorian matriculation economics programme and a considerable research output. In the early 1960s when Professor Dick Downing was editor, Alan in reality fulfilled the role. Appointed joint editor with Downing in 1967 he continued to be dedicated to the Economic Record until 1972 when he went to England for a year to write on taxation. In his editorial work, Alan was a perfectionist and scrupulously fair to contributors although he often turned to Professors Downing and Arndt for advice. In the late 1960s Alan edited and contributed to Aspects of the Australian Economy (Melbourne University Press) and with Heinz Arndt edited The Australian Economy (Cheshire), both of which went into several editions. At the request of the Australian Government Alan visited many Asian countries to assess Australian technical aid, publishing in 1969 Experts in Asia: an enquiry into Australian technical assistance. Earlier in 1964 he co-authored with Dick Downing and Heinz Arndt, Taxation in Australia: Agenda for Reform (Melbourne University Press). Together with Dick Downing, Jim Perkins and Joe Isaac, Alan in 1972 wrote Economic Analysis of the Australian Economy. Through the 1960s he published several articles in the Economic Record on the Australian economy. An offer in the early 1970s to participate in the Asprey taxation enquiry attracted Alan to Canberra and to a position in the Treasury working on taxation. At the end of the 1970s he was appointed Economics Minister at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, a post he held for three years. Alan retired shortly after returning to Australia from Tokyo. In retirement, Alan enthusiastically pursued collecting operatic recordings and growing his art collection. Within a short time, Alan had amassed a large number of records of operas with a strong emphasis on the works of Wagner. But art was his prime love and he was a superb judge with a vast knowledge of the field. Alan started to buy Australian art in the late 1950s and by 1970 had built a unique collection notable for paintings and sculptures by Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan and John Percival among many others. On his return from Japan, Alan began what was to become one of the best private collections of Aboriginal art in Australia. His house in Canberra was so full of art pieces it was almost impossible to move without bumping into one piece or another. He bequeathed many of his paintings to the Australian National Gallery. A wonderful, friendly, quiet and modest person Alan Boxer made important contributions to academia, economic policy and the arts. He is sadly missed. The Trust is grateful to Richard D Freeman for this obituary given in September 2016. |
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