Sid Jennings

It is with sadness that the college learned of the death of Emeritus Fellow Sid Jennings on Friday 2 June 2023. He was an Emeritus Fellow of Templeton College from 2000 and then Green Templeton College from 2008.

Sid first joined the Oxford Centre for Management Studies (a precursor to Templeton College) as a fellow in 1977. As a Research Fellow he was an excellent organiser and tutor and acted as project coordinator of the Engineering (or Metallurgy), Economics and Management (EMEM) degree.

Sid was an energetic and enthusiastic advocate of EMEM – what at the time was an award-winning and pioneering joint undergraduate degree programme, which pre-dated the launch of the Economics and Management Programme, and the foundation of the Business School itself. The project component in particular saw these undergraduates getting invaluable experience in organisations which led to exceptional employment outcomes and some of our most successful alumni.

Sid held roles including Industrial Relations Fellow and was active in The Oxford Institute for Employee Relations at Templeton College. The institute had been established in 1985 to make a positive contribution to the improvement of public- and private-sector employee relations.

Sid is remembered by former colleagues as both someone who worked hard for the students for whom he had responsibility and as enormously collegial – exactly the kind of person a college needs to build a strong and resilient community. In April 2022, he wrote fondly of his late colleague Roger Undy, including of spending time together playing snooker in the Templeton games room after work, and at college social events.

Our thoughts are with Sid’s wife Mary and others who knew him.

Please email PA to the Principal Josie Cookson if you would like to pass messages or tributes to Mary or receive details of the funeral arrangements.

Tribute from colleague

Emeritus Fellow Dr Janine Nahapiet writes

‘Sid was good colleague – who could always be relied upon for support and commitment. He was well-liked by academic and administrative colleagues.

‘He was an outstanding project coordinator for the EMEM degrees. Every year Sid had to arrange two industrial placements for each EMEM student. He skillfully negotiated and agreed the details with a variety of companies, allocated students appropriately to each project and similarly appointed project supervisors from the faculty. He was highly regarded by all parties as he was with the Engineering and Metallurgy faculty. In so doing, he helped advance the standing of Management Studies within the university.’