Professor John Erickson, FRSE, FBA, (1929-2002)
Michael Rhodes
was University Endowment Fellow & Director, Centre for Defence
Studies, University of Edinburgh, 1988-96; Honorary Fellow, Defence
Studies & Professor Emeritus, 1996-2002.
He was born 17 April, 1929, the son of Henry Erickson and the former
Jessie Heys; & was educated at South Shields High School, & St John's
College, Cambridge (MA).
He was Research Fellow at St Anthony's College, Oxford, 1956-58;
Lecturer, Department of History, St Andrews University, 1958-62;
Lecturer, Senior Lecturer & Reader, Department of Government,
University of Manchester, 1962-67.
At Edinburgh University, he was successively: Reader, Lecturer in
Higher Defence Studies, 1967; Professor of Politics (Defence Studies),
1969-88.
Visiting Professor: Russian Research Center, University of Indiana,
1967; Texas A & M University, 1981; Department of History, Yale
University, 1987.
Prof. Erickson was President, Association of Civil Defence & Emergency
Planning Officers, 1981- ; FBA, 1985; FRSA, 1991; Honorary Fellow,
Aerospace Academy, Ukraine, 1995.
Erickson's publications included: The Soviet High Command, 1918-41
(1962); Storia della Stato Maggiore Sovietico, 1963; (ed) Soviet
Military Power and Performance, 1979; The Road to Berlin, 1983; (ed)
Barbarossa, The Axis and the Allies, 1994; (jointly) The Soviet Armed
Forces 1918-1992: a research guide to Soviet sources, 1996; (jointly)
The Russian Front, 1941-45, 1999; (introd) Invasion 1940, 2000.
He married in 1957, Ljubica Petrovic, by whom he had one son, and one
daughter.
A Memorial Service is to take place at St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston
Place, Edinburgh, 5 May, 2002, at 3.30 p.m.
...Michael Rhodes.