I had the good fortune to have been one of Bob Hepple’s labour law doctoral students at Cambridge in the 1970s, a period of great intellectual excitement in this developing field. Bob was a pioneer in the fields of comparative, international and European labour law as well as domestic law and worked closely with the International Labour Organisation and other international bodies to promote labour standards. His eminence on the international stage was recognised by the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Labour Law by the Labour Law Research Network in 2013.
Bob was a very warm, charming and generous man, unstinting in his support for younger colleagues at every stage of their career both in the UK and overseas. Many of these colleagues became personal friends. Age did not diminish Bob’s creative energy or appetite for further major projects; earlier this year he was appointed by the UN secretary general to an expert panel reviewing the administration of justice for UN staff. At his last public appearance, when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Kent at Canterbury Cathedral, he gave an address on the difference between knowledge and wisdom. No one could have been better qualified to give it.
