Professor Marcus Banks (1960-2020)

Published on
Monday 26 October 2020
Category
In Memoriam

It is with very great sadness that the College announces the death of Marcus Banks, Member of our Governing Body, former Vicegerent and Professor of Visual Anthropology. He will be sorely missed.

Marcus Banks, as a professional anthropologist, spent his life observing others. But he may not have perceived quite how much he meant to all those around him: his friends and family, his Wolfson College colleagues, his colleagues at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at Oxford University. After thirty-two years living, researching and teaching at Oxford, his sudden, tragic, far too early death has left many people unable to believe or understand what has happened.

It has led many of us to remember and cherish his role in our lives - far earlier than we should have had to do. Yet, during this cruel pandemic year, rules of behaviour mean that we will not be able to congregate, to swap stories, to mull over his life in person as we would normally be able to do.

The College has prepared an online book of condolences in memory of Marcus’ life which can be found here.


The funeral of Marcus Banks will be held on Tuesday 17 November at the North Oxford Crematorium at 2.00pm. There will be a live stream of the event, so if anyone wishes to follow the ceremony at home, please follow this link: 

website: https://www.obitus.com
username: Deha2023
password: 351905

You can log in to the website at any time to view a test connection (this is recommended). The live webcast of Marcus's funeral will begin at 1.55pm. (Please be aware that the funeral will take place in a public building, and other services may run late: please use discretion if you see activities unrelated to Marcus's funeral). After the service the recording will be made available on the website; it will be posted there after 3 working days and will remain available for 28 days.

For those who would like to pay tribute to Marcus in person, it has been kindly arranged for the cortege to drive past the College at around 1.10pm. The hearse will drive up Chadlington Road and turn the corner into Linton Road, where it will pause briefly, so those wishing to pay their respects should gather on the pavement outside the Bishop's House on Linton Road, physically distanced. There are a small number of funeral order of service available at the Lodge.