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Tony Allan

January 29, 1937 - April 15, 2021

To all who knew him, Tony Allan was a humble, kind and generous individual. Professor Tony Allan was an eminent scholar, most noted for his pioneering work on virtual water. He had a long and established career at the School of Oriental and African Studies and most recently at King’s College London. He was a true interdisciplinarian, starting his career as a physical geographer making a mark since the 1960s with extensive studies of Libya and working at the cutting edge of remote sensing. He was a prominent expert on the Middle East and North African region. He later engaged deeply and enthusiastically with the politics and policy of water resources management, which led to the ground-breaking work identifying the significance and role of water embedded in production and consumption. He also created and led the London Water Research Group, an inclusive and intercollegiate network of thinkers. He pushed those attending the numerous informal seminars and workshops to be more critical and better communicators. Tony received the highly prestigious Stockholm Water Prize in 2008 as well as the Florence Monito Water Prize in 2013 and the Monaco Water Prize in 2013. His curiosity and research was unstoppable, producing several classic texts, including the Middle East Water Question (2001), Virtual Water: Tackling the Threat to Our Planet's Most Precious Resource (2011) and The Oxford Handbook of Food, Water and Society (2019). He devoted many decades to research, education and communication, inspiring generations of students, academics, activists, artists, farmers and professionals across the world. Tony was a singular figure remembered for his extraordinary dedication, integrity, creativity, hard work, and courage.

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John Waterbury 2021-04-19 17:14:33 wrote:

I can't remember how long I have known Tony. It surely goes back to the 1970s when I was studying the Nile. I know we met occasionally at conferences, and I was struck by the simplicity and power of his identification of virtual water. It opened so many doors to understanding what we now call thew WEF nexus, but it took Tony to show us what had been hiding in plain sight. `it was not until 2015 when my wife and I moved to London, that I got to know Tony as a colleague, mentor, and intellectual catalyst. I hung out with him at SOAS and in Elie Elhadj's flat. I helped, peripherally, in the supervision of one of his PhD advisees. I saw close up the quality of his collegiality, mentorship, and itellectual electricity. His students are legion, and they all likely had an unparalleled experience. When I learned of Tony's passing away, I riffled through my recent emails. On April 6 I had sent him a newspaper article on yet another round of negotiations on Ethiopia's GERD. Within minutes of receiving it, I received Tony's succinct summary "nothing new". Be polite and keep it brief. Thanks, Tony. John

John Waterbury 2021-04-19 17:14:33 wrote: I can't remember how long I have known Tony. It surely goes back to the 1970s when I was studying the Nile. I know we met occasionally at conferences, and I was struck by the simplicity and power of his identification of virtual water. It opened so many doors to understanding what we now call thew WEF nexus, but it took Tony to show us what had been hiding in plain sight. `it was not until 2015 when my wife and I moved to London, that I got to know Tony as a colleague, mentor, and intellectual catalyst. I hung out with him at SOAS and in Elie Elhadj's flat. I helped, peripherally, in the supervision of one of his PhD advisees. I saw close up the quality of his collegiality, mentorship, and itellectual electricity. His students are legion, and they all likely had an unparalleled experience. When I learned of Tony's passing away, I riffled through my recent emails. On April 6 I had sent him a newspaper article on yet another round of negotiations on Ethiopia's GERD. Within minutes of receiving it, I received Tony's succinct summary "nothing new". Be polite and keep it brief. Thanks, Tony. John

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