While searching for former students I stumbled upon this Obituary from September 17th 2013. What an amazing man.

Ashburton-born Dr Stuart McGregor, Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, died recently in Cambridge, England.

Dr McGregor was a pupil of Ashburton High School and its dux and sports champion in 1946. He graduated Master of Arts from Canterbury University College with First Class honours in English and French in 1950 and 1951 before leaving New Zealand with a scholarship to study at Merton College, Oxford.

There his interest in linguistics led eventually to the study of Hindi and an appointment to the School of African and Oriental Studies, London. A year’s study at the University of Allahabad followed. In 1964 he took up an appointment at Cambridge University where he taught and worked until his retirement.

Dr McGregor instituted the formal study of Hindi in the UK and researched and published extensively on its language and early literature. One of his major works was the re-writing at the request of OUP, of the Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, a work of 20 years, which remains a definitive source. His work on Hindi grammar and other aspects of the language saw him recognised by the Indian government, the Hindi Institute of Agra and the Third International Congress of Hindi in New Delhi. He also lectured and advised on Hindi in Europe, USA and Australia.

In an obituary in The Indian Express, a daily newspaper, Dr McGregor is described as “a philologist, grammarian, literary historian, translator and lexicographer of the front rank (who) probably did more for Hindi studies in the West than any other scholar of his generation.”

Another colleague has described him as “the most remarkable scholar of Hindi language and literature of the second half of the twentieth century, (his) dictionary of Hindi is used across the world as the authoritative source for English translation. He also produced the most complete history of pre-modern Hindi literature and a raft of specialized studies of enduring importance.”

Dr McGregor retained a life-long love of music having learnt piano from Miss Lilian Lewis and continued with piano lessons in London well into his retirement. His father, Ronald McGregor, known to most as Sandy, may be remembered still as having taught for many years at AHS.

Stuart is survived by his wife, Elaine and three children in England and a sister in Auckland.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 17 September 2013