A tribute to Professor Nick Wilkinson
We would like to say a massive thank you to the many staff, faculty, students and alumni who have shared their memories of Nick Wilkinson, Professor of Economics, at Richmond American University London, who passed away on 2 August 2023.
You can follow their photos, stories and condolences below.
Professor Nick Wilkinson
Professor Phil Deans, President and Vice Chancellor of Richmond American University London, said, “Nick taught economics at Richmond for 37 years and was a well-loved colleague and friend to many. Nick’s interest in sport and fitness drove his research and also gave him opportunities to collaborate and enhance his teaching and learning through the Wellbeing Research Centre at Richmond. He was always happy to challenge the orthodoxy and was held in great affection by generations of our students.”
Professor Wilkinson was educated at Cambridge University (BA), Loughborough University (MSc), and City University (PhD), where he studied both economics and business.
As well as being a Professor of Economics at Richmond American University London, Professor Wilkinson taught economics and finance in various international institutions in the UK and US at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Professor Wilkinson authored two books, ‘Managerial Economics: A Problem-Solving Approach’ (2005), which was published as a second edition under the title of ‘Managerial Economics: Problem-solving in a Digital Age’ (2022). His second book, ‘An Introduction to Behavioral Economics’, was published in its third edition in 2018. His research interests were in the field of behavioral economics, particularly in the implications of evolutionary biology and neuroscience.
Professor Wilkinson is survived by his wife, Yasmin and their children, Peter and Katyana (age 20 and 16 respectively) to whom we send our deep condolences
Donations in memory of Professor Wilkinson can be made to British Heart Foundation online at www.bhf.org.uk
I worked with Nick for over 30 years and always regarded him as a talented teacher. In recent years we hadn’t had the opportunity to engage as much as I would have liked, and I wish that wasn’t so. I wish his wife, Yasmin, and his children the very best in such difficult circumstances. May he rest in peace.
I graduated in 1992 and I was so lucky to have him as a teacher. His subject was Managerial Economics and I can say he was amazing. He was one of the best teachers I have ever had.
RIP
It is hard to put into words how special of a teacher Professor Wilkinson was. While we commonly use the word lecturer to refer to professors, Mr. Wilkinson was not merely a lecturer, but truly a master of pedagogy. His lessons were incredibly engaging and frequently challenged the status quo. Rather than simply regurgitating answers he would encourage students to think critically about topics and have them engage interactively in his class. Throughout my studies I cannot recall a single instance where he had merely read from his slides; his knowledge was so profound that he used instructional slides merely as a visual guide for his students rather than a personal syllabus. Professor Wilkinson was truly a special person, and while I have no images or videos to share regarding his legacy at the school, I will always have the memories of his impactful influence and presence in my life. I am truly honored to have been one of his students and would like to express my deepest condolences to his family.
I first met Nick in the Summer of 1999 when I was invited to interview for the role of Senior Lecturer at Richmond. He was sharing an office with (the late) Robert Mulligan in the back of 16 Young Street. My recollection is that the room was a little on the dark side, but the interview turned into much more of a friendly conversation, a conversation which continued until Nick passed away in August this year (2023). Given that Nick was such a fit and healthy man, devoted to a healthy lifestyle and personal fitness, his passing came very much as a shock.
Although Nick was a warm and generous man, he was also a very private person, preferring to keep a clear boundary between his work life and his home life. I knew little of the latter until we ended up sharing an office on the first floor of 16 Young Street, which continued with the move to 37 Kensington High Street, a period of some ten years. During those years we became very close, sharing professional and personal experiences and discussing everything from the sublime (does EMH hold?) to the ridiculous (decisions made by ‘people in authority’, in government, in the EU, at Richmond, etc). One of the benefits of our office-share was that if a student came to see either of us they often got the benefit of two perspectives, and occasionally they would enjoy some very lively discussion with the two of us.
Nick was a man with a calm temperament who preferred to ‘keep his head down’ and get on with his teaching. In a University replete with exceptional educators, Nick was superlative; possibly the very best, as the many testimonials from generations of students on both Facebook and LinkedIn attest. Despite his gentle demeanour—Nick was an amiable man who seemed to get along with everyone—he would never sit idly by when there was a real or perceived injustice. He could raise his voice and thunder like a proverbial Biblical prophet when the occasion demanded. Few of his colleagues will forget the time (2001? 2002?) during a Business School meeting he engaged loudly, emotionally, yet completely lucidly, with the then-Dean. At the time this seemed remarkably out of character for a man who seemed to prefer not to get involved in conflicts.
As well as being exceptional in the classroom, Nick also chaired several committees during his time at Richmond where his insight and collegiality helped progress important aspects of University business. I feel honoured that our office share also made us more than colleagues—friends—who occasionally compared notes, especially on matters of teaching or parenting or anything. Nick was an especially nimble debater, as evidenced when the Business School hosted two debates on the upcoming (as it was then) Brexit referendum. Although no-one in the Business School was truly in favour of Brexit, a toss of the coin put Nick on the pro-Brexit side of the debate, where he made the case with such ardent vigour that attendees generally thought that was his view. It was even suggested that he “channelled his inner Farage”, although this was a man whose viewpoint he despised.
Having retired in August 2022 I went from seeing Nick several times a week to several times a year: I only managed five visits to the ‘new’ campus in Chiswick in the 2022/2023 academic year. We did however, maintain regular contact by phone and sometimes indirectly via Facebook contact with Yasmin, Nick’s wife. My late father used to say that the nearest to immortality granted to a human being is the children they leave behind and any ‘great works’. As well as his two children, Peter and Katyana, Nick also leaves a legacy of generations of students who benefitted from his almost-forty years of service to Richmond. He also leaves two books, one on Managerial Economics and another on Behavioural Economics (ahead of its time when first published), both with multiple editions. I will treasure the copies of both on my shelves.
I will miss him.
Nick and I were colleagues for more than 30 years and although we were in different Departments, we had a friendly relationship and frequently chatted together. He was an excellent teacher with a reputation for pursuing high standards and was appreciated and respected by both his students and his faculty colleagues.
My strongest memory of Nick concerns an Economics course he taught for several successive years in the same time slot in the same classroom on the ground floor of Pacific House (later renamed as Asa Briggs Hall), Kensington Campus. It happened that at the same time I had my weekly studio servicing session just next door. Nick habitually taught his class with his door open and I discovered that if I left my door open, his clarity of diction and projection made it easily possible for me to follow his lectures, many of which I did. My knowledge of economics theory is limited but most of what I do know I learned from eavesdropping on his teaching.
Nick was a charming, enviably fit and quietly humorous man of many talents that extended well beyond his professional accomplishments. For example, in addition to his two Economics texts, he wrote a novel and was a member of the university band BluesWidow.
Sadly he was taken from his family and from us far too young. We shall remember and miss him.
I hired Nick Wilkinson to teach Economics at Richmond in 1986. He was fresh from his Masters and I appreciated his adaptability in an emergency situation half way through a semester – a quality I appreciated all the more in the years to come as he willingly devised and taught a range of both economics and finance courses at all levels. When I left Richmond in 1992, I continued to draw on his expertise elsewhere. Nick always kept himself busy. We joked he might meet himself coming out of Russell Square tube station one of these days!
I particularly enjoyed Nick’s gentle sense of humour, often making fun of himself. For the price of a pint, I’ll be happy to tell you why I sometimes called him “Tony” and sometimes “Mr B”!
Reading the hundreds of tributes paid to him by alumni at this sad time, three things are most frequently remembered about Nick – at least two of them fondly. The first is that he was a tough grader but this is always qualified by the fact that he was “firm but fair”. In all these years I never had a complaint from a student about a grade.
The second is their admiration for his energy and physical fitness. Given my own somewhat different appearance, I’ll gloss over this one! But the third is the frequent mention of his passion for loud American cars. Students knew it was time to rush to class when they heard the throaty roar of the Mustang or the TransAm driving into the parking lot.
When our time comes to join him in our heavenly abode, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s waiting at St Peter’s gate, fresh from the gym, to pick us up in one of them.
A very respectable colleague and a brilliant professor. Nick was highly sought after by students for not just his expertise in Econometrics but for his sheer willingness to always help students. Nick had a great sense of humour even though he was not very talkative. He will be missed by everyone who knew him, and we lost a great colleague.
It’s hard to believe that Nick is no longer with us. Although he was in the Business School and I was in Social Sciences, we worked together at Richmond for 38 years and it’s such a shame he didn’t make it to his much deserved retirement. I’ll always remember Nick as an excellent and erudite lecturer and also as a strikingly handsome, athletic and fiercely hardworking colleague with several major publications to his name. Indeed, Nick was widely regarded as a very cool guy by both faculty and students. We attended a few gigs together in the past and I remember him playing blues harmonica in a band fronted by Richmond alum Mojo Ozawa together with our former Dean of Students John O’Connell on guitar. Back in the late 1980s and 1990s the sight of Nick arriving or departing the Richmond Hill and Kensington campuses in a Pontiac GTO, AC Cobra or one of his other rumbling American muscle cars was a stirring experience. He was a steadfast member of the Richmond community and will be very deeply missed by all who knew him.
Nick was an invaluable colleague and fellow Economist, a great thinker, and an academic companion since I started my work here. At Richmond, he shaped the Economics degree in particular through his contributions in Behavioural Economics and Econometrics and has always maintained the strong view of the value of numeracy and quants on all degrees within the Business School. He mastered the wonderful liaison between abstract thinking, quantitative analysis, common sense and psychology and I am proud to have called him my colleague. He will be missed very much.
It is with deep sadness that I mourn the loss of a friend, a colleague, and a former bandmate. I will defer to Nick’s faculty associates to comment on Professor Wilkinson’s professional accomplishments in the field of higher education, particularly those at the Richmond Business School. Rather, I will give you a summary about a part of Nick Wilkinson’s life that not everyone may know about, especially those at Richmond who were not around in the early days…say about 1990-1999.
I had been at Richmond for about two years before I had the opportunity to sit alone and casually talk with Nick. Of course, I had seen him around campus many times, and I often wondered how a busy university professor kept up with a full-time teaching load, as well as maintaining an incredible, even eye-catching, muscular physique, a look that seemed more fitting in a place like Hollywood, California, perhaps on a movie set doing a scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just kidding!
This is how it began: One day, I noticed Nick sitting by himself in the cafeteria at the Richmond Campus. I sat down at the same table, and this spontaneous encounter over lunch was the start of a special bond that lasted for my entire time at Richmond. It all began with a simple question that Nick asked, something like: “So, John, what brought you to London?” I’m not sure why I reacted as I did, but I jokingly said something like: “Well, I’ve been a fan of the British music scene for many years, you know, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, etc., so I wanted to come to London and experience it for real.” Well, one thing led to another, and the conversation soon revealed that each of us shared a strong interest in traditional blues music, the foundation that, to this day, is considered as the “backbone” for how traditional rock n’ roll music got its start back in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, first in the United States and, soon after, all over the world.
As I recall, my lunch with Nick ended somewhat briskly when we both realized that we were late, Nick for a class he was teaching, and me, well, I was late for a meeting, one of a dozen or more that made up my typical day. Although we left the cafeteria in haste, I do remember saying something like, “Hey, Nick, you mentioned that you play the harmonica. I want to talk to you more about this. I’ve been talking with a student from Japan who calls himself Mojo. Like me, he plays guitar and knows a lot of blues riffs and songs. We should get together. See you around.” Professor Wilkinson, clearly distracted because he was gathering up papers and class notes, gave me a broad grin that was a clear message: “Definitely, yes!”
As I look back and reflect on this impromptu lunch, it was the start of what became, continuing over the next decade, an incredible, fantastic life experience, which brought together, unexpectedly, a Richmond faculty member, a Richmond Senior Administrator, and three musically talented Richmond students, Katsanori (Mojo) Ozawa from Japan, Borja Orbegoza from Spain, and Anwar Al-Kandari from Kuwait.
The band started off slowly, a normal beginning, obviously due to the fact that each of us had to adapt to our individual styles of playing music, especially considering that we represented five different cultures, as well as coming together for the first time. Nick was especially helpful during this period and, no doubt, his skill as a teacher and his ease at providing helpful feedback was a huge bonus. In fact, looking back, it was Nick who strongly encouraged all band members to share personal opinions and ideas for improving songs, especially tunes that we all liked. Truth be told, these conversations, along with a lot of laughter and storytelling, all took place at the Builder’s Arms, a pub down the road from campus. What a way to end the day!
Within six months we were rehearsing almost every weekend. Fortunately, we had access to the basement of Richmond’s Pacific House for rehearsals and setting up our equipment, which gave us the opportunity to turn up our Fender amplifiers to maximum volume. Ironically, and before the end of the year, the band came up with a name. Thanks to Audrey, my wife, who said to me as I was going out the door, “Hey, you’re leaving me every weekend. I’m turning into a ‘Blues Widow’!” The following weekend, I met my bandmates outside of Pacific House and said, “Hey guys, we have a name for the band,” and that’s when it all started coming together!
Nick was such a major force in how the band developed and, of course, such a talented musician, or what followers in this style of music typically call a “blues harp player.” As I reflect back on my nineteen years at Richmond, I am overwhelmed with an abundance of amazing memories and experiences, all pertaining to knowing wonderful students, along with exceptionally talented faculty, and, of course, working in a unique international environment that is, to put it simply, what I call “The Richmond Experience.”
Nick Wilkinson has departed this world far too early. Still, Nick has left an astonishing legacy among friends and colleagues, and certainly for many students over many decades. I extend my deepest condolences to Nick’s family, Yasmin, Peter, and Katyana.
Rest in peace my dear friend. See you at the next rehearsal.
Professor Nick Wilkinson’s passing is a sad event. However, he must be remembered for the man he was: both an intellectual and empathic teacher whose sense of responsibility could only be matched by his wit and sense of humor. His contributions influenced not only the fields he taught but also his students’ ways of thinking. Professor Nick taught me that sometimes, in Business but also in life, thinking backwards is key to solving problems. Hence, I think of his passing as a new beginning. My thoughts and prayers are to his family and his dearest friends.
Prof Nick Wilkinson who tragically passed away on August 3, 2023, was a very good friend of mine, a reliable and trusted colleague, and a person who I feel very proud to have known, worked with and shared many professional life stories in both informal and formal settings. On the morning of August 4, 2023, I received a WhatsApp message from my good, retired friend Dr Ivan Cohen that Nick had passed away the previous day. I shouted to myself – What! After which I called Ivan, who was equally devastated since receiving the sad news of the passing away of our good mutual friend Nick. Suddenly, my mind was flooded with the different interactions I have had with Nick, and some of those interactions are captured in the photos that I will share. Nick’s sudden passing away made me think of my own mortality,
something that one hardly thinks about.
To Nick’s family, his widow Yasmin and their two children I would like to convey my sincere and deep sympathies and condolences. They have lost an important person in their lives – a husband, a father, a guardian, and a family provider. Fate cannot be more unfair and crueller than that because in our daily lives we hardly think about death and yet death is all around us in all news media, but when it comes to us through the death of relatives or friends, it suddenly becomes real and very painful because death is a cruel enemy as it takes away our loved ones. It is not unusual for one to ask – Why us? Why me? Why now?
These are questions that we cannot give answers because matters of life and death belong to a different realm, our maker. The Quran and Bible talks a lot about death and in the Bible, Job in his moment of anguish (Job 1:21) said “God gives, and God takes it away”. God gave us Nick, and God has taken Nick to a better place. Nick played his part fully as a decent family man, a diligent and dedicated teacher to many students and a truly likeable and charming friend to many who knew him. Rest well Nick and rest in peace, we will meet again.
Nick and I used to go to Gunnersbury Pub fairly frequently because our classes happened to end late in the evenings. Over a drink we used to talk a lot about life, politics, academics, and social things. In one of those encounters he graciously revealed to me that he was in the panel that interviewed me in 2010 for my current job at Richmond, and I jokingly told him that I owe him one more for casting the deciding vote that got me the job. I found Nick to be one who was committed and loved his family dearly, he fondly spoke of his son at Durhan University
and was looking forward to his 16-year-old daughter to joining university soon.
Nick was a joy to have around, he was very well informed and knowledgeable on life issues and very lively to have around for discussions and chats. Towards the end of June 2023, we went for end-of-semester drink at Clayton Hotel which now turns to be our last drink, and we talked a lot about life, we were always free with each other and treated each other with respect and during this time Nick told me how he had to rush to Bournemouth because of a serious incident that affected his family. Only someone who is your friend and trusts you can give you such family details. That is how Nick was to me, he trusted me, and I trusted him.
Our professional interaction was very healthy and mutually beneficial to both of us. Nick was an internal moderator to some of my final exams over the years and what I admired about him was his penchant for thoroughness and accurate details. His last final exam paper to moderate as a Richmond tutor was my summer 2023 course in Prob & Stats 1 (MTH 4120).
Over the years I have internally moderated his final exams in Econometrics I & II, and one fact which came out clearly is his passion and enthusiasm for expanding our mathematics courses to provide more and diverse quantitative skills in business and economics courses to our students within the Business School. We put together a robust quantitative course for economics majors which was not approved but him and me had a desire to resurrect it in another form later.
In 2018, he gave me a copy of the first edition of his book on ‘Managerial Economics’, and when the second edition came out, he gave me a signed copy ‘Managerial Economics: Problem-solving in a Digital Age’ (2022). He also gave me a signed copy of his second book ‘An Introduction to Behavioral Economics’ (2018). These textbooks attest to his research diversity multi-disciplinary interests that combines economic thinking, quantitative analysis, behavioral economics, and psychology to name a few. In March 2023, I invited Nick to the Quant Seminar, and he made a wonderful presentation on ‘Insurance Premiums and Life Policies’ of which I have his Power Point slides. He also attended another Quant Seminar in April 2023 on ‘Green Money and Green Finance’, and I vividly remember his contributions in the discussion that followed.
Nick has left behind a rich legacy of his time at Richmond as an educator and mentor to many students and the many alumni who will forever be grateful for taking courses with him. He was very enthusiastic on keeping-fit and cycling and on several occasions, he used to cycle to work. Many times, during Teams meeting I could see a punch bag behind him, and I asked him about it, and he told me at times he liked to box to keep fit, no wonder he was bursting with a six-pack torso. Whenever Nick came to the office and I was seated on my desk, I used to greet him “How are you Man of God” and he would jokingly say “I am OK Man of God, I went home in peace, and I came back in one piece”. That is the way we were, I will miss Nick for his candour, warmth, camaraderie, for the many laughs we had and the many serious discussions we had. My last physical meeting with Nick was at the 2023 graduation ceremony held at the Royal Geographic Society premises. We spoke before and after the ceremony and as I was about to leave after the ceremony, we said goodbye to each other. Our very last goodbye.
Rest-in-peace my good friend Nick Wilkinson – Goodbye and What A friend Indeed!
I remember being introduced to Nick in the Kensington campus car park in the mid 80’s when he first started teaching for Richmond. He seemed a pleasant good looking blonde who might have been a Venice Beach, CA. habitue’ with a taste for American muscle cars and an Economics brain.
In fact he did have an America connection; his mom was an American and fellow Buckeye from Ohio. He was very much into physical fitness and his cars were always a delight to see. I’m not sure I remember all of them but there seemed to be several and he drove them with such pride and affection.
It wasn’t until I started hearing the band rehearse on the weekends in the Pacific House basement as I worked in the darkroom that I realised he was part of that group along with John O and Mojo. Nick was modest and had a lot more strings to his bow than perhaps many realised.
Over the years I came to know him much better and understand his true commitment to learning and teaching, especially in the area of behavioural economics. Nick was very collegial and a thoughtful, valuable committee member. Although relatively quiet, he was a good listener and his analysis and insights were especially useful for moving things forward in a meeting. I particularly valued his input on the Academic Appeals Committee which he later went on to chair.
On a few occasions I had the pleasure of photographing him as he taught and although concentrating on the visuals, couldn’t help but be impressed by his clarity, animated style, and subtle humour. I could tell the students were engaged by the good questions they asked and his responses.
It is not surprising so many of his students have posted their tributes to him on social media; he was highly respected by them and his faculty colleagues. He will be missed very much at Richmond and I am thankful he enriched the lives of so many of us.