The death of Emeritus Professor Gerrit Olivier
- Wits University
It is with great sadness that Wits University announces the death of Emeritus Professor Gerrit Olivier.
A distinguished scholar and academic leader, Professor Olivier served as the former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and the former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Wits. Professor Olivier died on Saturday evening, 12 September 2026, in the Eastern Cape. He was 72.
A highly respected scholar of literature and a literary critic, Professor Olivier joined Wits in 1981 and spent much of his academic career at the University, where he made an enduring contribution to scholarship, teaching and academic leadership. His research and writing encompassed the work of major literary and artistic figures, including N.P. van Wyk Louw, Koos Prinsloo and Penny Siopis. He was the recipient of the Recht Malan Prize in 1993 for his book NP van Wyk Louw: Literatuur, filosofie, politiek. He edited Penny Siopis: Time and Again, which was a finalist in the 2017 Humanities and Social Sciences Book Awards. He edited several books and was the recipient of many awards.
Professor Olivier's contribution extended well beyond his own scholarship. He played a pivotal role in advancing the recognition of creative work and artistic practice as legitimate forms of research, both at Wits and within the broader South African higher education sector. He was instrumental in conceptualising the Wits Creative Work PhD and in securing its formal recognition by the University, helping to create new possibilities for generations of artists, writers and creative scholars. He also taught and was deeply involved in the Wits Department of Creative Writing, where he nurtured many manuscripts to completion and publication.
A Professor of Afrikaans and Nederlands Literature, he was appointed as Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Nederlands Literature in 1990, before being appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1995 and then as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in 2000.
As Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Olivier was a highly respected and loved leader. Colleagues remember him as an intellectual who remained firmly focused on the academic purpose of the University, and as a deeply democratic leader with a strong sense of fairness, powerful integrity and even-handedness. He was also instrumental in integrating the Johannesburg College of Education into Wits University.
His influence was probably felt most profoundly by the many students, academics, writers and artists whose work he read, questioned, encouraged, critiqued and strengthened over the years. His intellectual rigour was matched by his generosity of spirit, and his insight was valued by those who sought his advice.
Born in Burgersdorp in 1954, Professor Olivier matriculated from Burgersdorp High School before enrolling at the University of Stellenbosch, where he obtained his BA degree majoring in Afrikaans-Nederlands Studies and Private Law, and his BA Honours and Masters degrees in Afrikaans-Nederlands. He read for a Doctor of Literature in Modern Dutch at Rijks University in Utrecht and obtained a PhD from Wits.
On behalf of Wits University, we extend our deepest condolences to Professor Olivier's family, friends, former colleagues, students, and those who knew him well. His death is a profound loss to the Wits community and to South African scholarship and the arts.
May he rest in peace.