(Henry) John Easterling

Henry John Easterling was born in 1932 in Hornsey, north London, where his father was an Anglican priest. He went to the City of London school, where he was actively involved in the life of the school and was Captain of School in his final year. He was in the generation that was required to do National Service and served in the Royal Engineers, spending time in Egypt a few years before the Suez crisis.

He won a scholarship to study classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He started his studies in Cambridge in 1952 and apart from a year at the University of Manchester he never left. He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1958, ultimately serving as a Fellow for almost 63 years and becoming Senior Fellow in the process.

He taught classics and ancient philosophy for many years but probably his most significant contribution to Trinity College and Cambridge University was as a tutor and an administrator. He was admissions tutor and secretary to the college council at Trinity and spent the later part of his career as University Draftsman, responsible for curating the arcane rules which govern the university.13:59:16

He met Patricia Fairfax when they were undergraduates and they were married in 1956. They settled in the village of Cottenham, a few miles north of Cambridge where they lived in the same house for over 60 years. John was completely committed to enabling his wife to pursue her own academic career and he was very proud of her achievements – she was to become the first woman to hold the post of Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University. He is survived by his wife, his son Tom and his two grandchildren.

With thanks to Tom for this obituary.