The Political Science Department’s generous alumnus, friend, and donor, Anton Vonk, passed away in early January following a heart attack. We will remember Anton Vonk gratefully for years to come by virtue of his generous gift, together with his wife, Diane Boss, of the Vonk Chair in Environmental Politics, for which recruitment is currently in progress. We will honor his vision and generosity in the future on many occasions.

Anton Vonk (Anthonius Vonk, also known to his friends as “Ton,”) was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1940 and served as an officer in the Dutch army for five years after completing his education. He then worked for Vitol SA for 27 years, helping to develop it from a small local oil distribution company to one of the world’s largest oil trading and marketing companies, and ultimately serving as its president and chairman.

The Vonks moved to Santa Barbara from London in 2000 to retire and built a home in Montecito. Anton devoted his time to an array of real estate, hotels, and other investments in Europe and the United States and pursued his interest in aviation. In addition, he entered the graduate program in the Political Science Department at UCSB and graduated in 2005, receiving an M.A. upon completion of his thesis, “The Politics of Energy Resources and Pipelines in the Caspian Sea Region.”

Memorials celebrating the life of Ton Vonk were held in the Netherlands in January and in Montecito in February. His obituary was published in the Santa Barbara Independent, and can be viewed online at http://www.independent.com/obits/.