We received the sad news of the passing of Philip van der Merwe (1963G) from his good friend,  Anthony Clarke (1963G) pictured in red with Philip below.  Anthony is currently based in Australia.

Philip passed away in Pretoria on 10 September following a serious bout of pneumonia.  He and his wife, Moira, had been living in Groenkloof, Pretoria at the time.   Moira was reportedly, coping well under the circumstances.

Philip was an Attorney and Legal Professional who was last working as a retired, Independent Legal Services Professional.  He had been part of the Law Society of South Africa and had served as an Information Officer at UCT in the eighties. He was Editor for the South African Attorney's Journal, De Rebus, during the nineties and well into the 2000's before he retired from that role.

Left to right in the picture above:  Philip van der Merwe and his wife Moira, with Hazel Pare, wife of Philip Pare. This was taken at the Pretoria Country Club on the 28th December 2023.

Philip Pare (1975F), who took the photograph writes:

This was in December. This is the last time that we saw him.
May our Lord have mercy on his soul.

In an article written in the OD Magazine of 2011, they had the following to say about Philip van der Merwe:

Philip van der Merwe (1955-63) has written to let us know that he has recently retired as Editor of De Rebus and that he is really enjoying retirement. He lives in Pretoria and sees a lot of Miles Arnold (1962-60). Recently three 1963 Matriculants met up in Johannesburg, Duncan Innes (1954-63) and I attended a delightful lunch party for Tony Clarke (1959-63) who also left in 1963, a medical practitioner in Canberra in Australia, who was passing through on a visit to Cape Town and KZN. Philip Pare (1968-75), Tony’s cousin who lives in Pretoria was also there.

ODs will be interested to know that for some 260 issues of De Rebus, Philip has carefully scrutinized and edited contributions, articles and columns, advised the editorial committee on content, led the production and editorial staff in planning the issues, read and approved final proofs and signed off the issues for print. What is noteworthy is that each of those 260 issues has maintained its standard, quality and professionalism under Philip’s hand. Also, every single issue reached readers timeously every month without missing a beat. Deadlines and professionalism have been non-negotiable.

The attorneys’ profession owes a huge debt of gratitude to Philip

June 2011 OD Union Page 145

Our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.