Mary Ann SWART

I was very saddened to read of the passing of my dear friend, Mrs Mary Ann Swart. As a newly arrived student in London in the late '80s, Mary Ann was a beacon for me, providing a welcome refuge from the hurly burly of UCL's LLM programme at her gracious Georgian house on Thanet St, Bloomsbury. During my first weekend in London in the Autumn of 1987, I remember joining Mary Ann, her husband Les and her daughters, Liz and Gemma, for the first of many home-cooked meals there. All the Swarts treated me as one of the family, and I have many fond memories of Anne Marie, Michael, Chris, and David, as well as Liza and Gemma; but, above all, of their wonderful Mum, who was always so warm and welcoming, so supportive and helpful, ever ready with a word to the wise over a perennial cuppa. I will miss her greatly. My sincerest condolences to her family, both immediate and extended - in the UK, the Antipodes and the Americas. Rest assured that in a farflung corner of Oz - Byron Bay - Mary Ann remains very much alive in my memories. Vale Mary Ann Swart, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt - and, for me, hostess and friend.

Bill MacNeil
Professor William MacNeil
The Honourable John Dowd Chair in Law
Professor of Jurisprudence
Dean of Law
Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
Southern Cross University
Lismore, NSW Australia

I remember my aunt fondly as a kind and generous soul who took and interest in my daughter and myself when we were living in England. May she rest in peace.