JP (Hamish) Kimmins
(July 31, 1942 – April 8, 2021)
The world of Canadian forestry lost one of its giants with the recent death of my father Hamish Kimmins. Our family has been receiving a huge outpouring of support which includes a remarkable number of stories from people who have been positively influenced by him. I thought I would take a minute to share some facts about Hamish in order to help to celebrate his remarkable life.
Born in Jerusalem during the waning days of the 1st battle of El Alamein he was baptized James Peter Kimmins by his English father but immediately called Hamish (Gaelic translation) by his Scottish mother. He lived primarily in Egypt during WWII and in 1945 traveled with his British parents back to England on a steamship from the port of Alexandria. As a pre-teen in Derbyshire England he met and fell in love with his lifelong sweetheart and future wife Annie Linnell. During this time, he also fell in love with the outdoors and his passion for the environment and natural world stayed with him until the end.
Hamish spent his school years in England and remained in Britain through completion of his BSc (Honours) in forestry at the University of Wales Bangor in 1964. His grammar school and college chums remember him as an outgoing, energetic, and passionate young man who was a force to be reckoned with on the rugby pitch. After completing undergrad studies Hamish traveled to the USA as a Fulbright scholar to obtain a MSc in Forest Entomology at the University of California Berkeley 1966, and a MPhil Forest Ecology 1968 + PhD Forest Ecology 1970 from Yale University.
In 1969 Hamish moved with his family to Vancouver BC and became assistant professor at the UBC Faculty of Forestry. In 1974 he became a tenured associate professor and by 1979 he was a full professor where he remained until retirement. In 2007, he received the title of Professor Emeritus at UBC. In his almost forty-year career Hamish distinguished himself through research, teaching, mentorship, publication, and computer modelling. Probably his most important legacy is the work of his many students, grad students, and post docs around the world. It is from this large group of individuals that we have been hearing how much he influenced their lives and careers. It is rare to meet someone in forestry who didn’t know Hamish.
Hamish authored and published hundreds of research papers, scientific reports and book chapters. He authored the textbook Forest Ecology in 1987, and Balancing Act: Environmental Issues in Forestry in 1992. His ecology textbook was published as a second edition in 1997, and third addition in 2003. He was a featured speaker, expert and lecturer around the world.
As a consequence of his almost constant generation of influential academic material, Hamish was given many awards. These include the IUFRO Scientific Achievement Award (1986), University of Toronto 1986 Eddy Distinguished Lecturer (1986), the CIF Scientific Achievement Award (1987), and appointment as Canada Research Chair (2001). He was also made Doctor honoris causa by the University of Quebéc at Montreal (2010) and awarded the Order of Canada (2014). In recognition of his many contributions to academic forestry, a Hamish Kimmins Scholarship in Forest Ecosystem Studies has been established in his honour at UBC.
Most importantly Hamish was a wise, kind, and generous man. He loved well and was well loved. It was a life well lived, and we will all miss him so much.
Mark H. Kimmins, MD
