Clifford John BELLAMY (1936 - 1997)

Dean of Computing and Information Technology  (1990 - 1996)

Professor Cliff Bellamy, a pioneer of computer education in Australia, died in Melbourne on 14 January 1997, after a long illness.

The former dean of Monash University's Faculty of Computing and Information Technology spent more than three decades teaching at the university, while also being keenly sought as a consultant for numerous Australian and international projects.  These included advising the Victorian Government during the 1970s on its future computer needs, researching the operations of several overseas police forces, including the FBI and Scotland Yard, in his capacity as a member of the Commonwealth Attorney General's committee on the computerisation of criminal data.

In 1970, he helped the New Zealand Vice-Chancellor's Committee evaluate proposals to install computer systems in their universities.  He was chosen because "it is believed he is the best person in Australia to assist us".

Professor Bellamy retired from Monash last year, and his academic colleagues remember him as an insightful and patient man who always brought the highest levels of integrity to his professional work and personal relationships.  They describe his contribution to the university as "awesome".

He came to Monash in 1963 as a senior lecturer in mathematics, and taught the university's first computer classes. The following year he became director of the Monash Computing Centre, a position he held until his appointment in 1990 as dean of the university's new - and Australia's first - Faculty of Computing and Information Technology.

Professor Bellamy was a highly-respected academic and administrator, and his loss is mourned by his colleagues throughout Monash  and the wider field of computing and information technology. The university community extends their sympathy to his wife Margaret and their four children.

A  memorial service will be held at the Religious Centre on the Clayton campus at an early date to be advised.

Edited version of obituary published in The Age and The Australian, 16 January 1997.