Tony Barlow:TONY BARLOW, who has died aged 60, was one of Ireland's leading economists. His special area of interest was the financing of higher education.
His 1981 book, The Financing of Third Level Education in Ireland, remains of enormous contemporary relevance.
He was born in Luton in England in 1949 and raised in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
He studied at London School of Economics and came to University College, Cork in 1974 at a time when the college, under the enlightened leadership of Dr Donal McCarthy, was widening its outlook by the recruitment of overseas staff.
Barlow was full of the new thinking that was beginning to sweep through the academic subject of economics. He was a pioneer at UCC in the teaching of labour economics, managerial economics and quantitative methods in economics.
He also helped to establish a taught Master's Programme in Economics and was heavily involved in supervision of student dissertations. In the latter part of his career, he was attached to the Centre for Policy Studies, UCC.
The Financing of Third Level Education in Ireland(published by the ESRI) reviewed the equity and efficiency of systems of third-level educational finance and in particular looked at a scheme of student loans which would be repayable through the income tax system. This proposal has been considered by the Government recently, but not adopted.
However, his ground-breaking contribution in this area was acknowledged by Prof Bruce Chapman, a leading educational economist in Australia.
Barlow also published several articles and a monograph on this same topic, as well as on trade union organisation in Ireland and strike-propensity in Ireland, both in The Economic and Social Review.
He was heavily involved in initiatives to enhance the quality of lecturing and learning in UCC in the 1970s and was active in the Teaching Development Committee.
There is no doubt that he would have added to these achievements, had he been granted better health, and if working conditions at UCC had been supportive.
Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing through the 1990s, he had to contend with increasingly difficult conditions in his work-environment, and the state of his health declined.
He was determined to continue his research and teaching which he enjoyed immensely. He decided to take early retirement in 2007 to continue his many interests including esoteric sheep, which he kept at his home in Carrigrohane in Cork.
He was a long-standing member of Sunday's Well tennis club, where he enjoyed a good game of tennis and played regularly until his long and distressing illness finally forced his admission to hospital.
He is survived by his wife Mary, whom he married in 1987, and his two sons, Hugh and Peter.
Tony Barlow: born May 17th, 1949; died April 8th 2010