Johannesburg - Renowned and revered researcher Dr Gerrit Schepers had only one wish – to be brought back home where it all began.
And now the man remembered as a fearless anthropologist who worked tirelessly to challenge asbestos dumping in South Africa and in the US, and refused to succumb to commercial pressures, has returned to his final resting place.
Schepers’s granddaughters, Mimi Logothetis and Kori Mosley, will scatter his ashes along the Kalahari desert in keeping with his last wishes.
The two young women flew to South Africa on Tuesday. In his final will and testament, Schepers said he wanted his body cremated and his remains brought back to the country.
And this week, the pair joined other family members, at a heart-warming reunion dinner at The Wanderers Club in honour of their grandfather.
Neither Logothetis nor Mosley expected to hear so many great tales about a man who dedicated most of his life to his work and passion.
While they gasped in disbelief, lingered and laughed at every interesting and quirky detail about their grandfather, it was clear the two women were not aware of the great impact Schepers had had on local and international societies as well as medical and environmental fraternities.
“We heard many stories from Oupa. He was a great storyteller. Some were off-beat while others were downright interesting.
“We heard of amazing individuals and learnt of great names, but didn’t heed much. He had a twinkle in his eye. Listening to this, it all makes sense now. The trouble he got into to assist others. In my entire life he was my favourite relative,” Logothetis enthused.
Mosley described their visit as a long-overdue journey, adding that her grandfather’s solemn devotion to his work proved that he was a walking encyclopedia, because of his vast knowledge.
The task of scattering the ashes was to be conducted by one of Schepers’s sons, Emile, after the professor died on September 6, 2011, at the age of 97 due to an extended illness. He lived in Great Falls, Virginia.
But Emile fell ill, leaving his nieces to fulfil the work.
Logothetis explained that the ashes would be scattered at a family gravesite and the rest at his place of birth.
The women said Schepers had also written several manuscripts which Emile wanted published.
Asbestos consists of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties.
It was popular among manufacturers and builders for its absorption, and resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage. It is also affordable.
In May plans by Transnet to dump asbestos into two borrow pits near De Aar in the Northern Cape were foiled by residents who raised their health concerns.
The railway company planned to dump 520 000 tons of asbestos from nine years into two grooves and seal them.
Environmentalists in this country continue to wage war against asbestos dumping.
A relative of Schepers, who knew more about his passion and fighting, is his niece, Heather Brown.
Brown, who lives in Durban, informed Mosley and Logothetis of their grandfather’s stature.
“He was my uncle doctor. He was a guy who was never scared. He was absolutely fearless and always fought for what he believed in,” she said.
The work that will undoubtedly remain in the hearts of many is his big expose in 1949.
In a report he compiled Schepers confirmed that cases of asbestosis were common among miners in South Africa and had been found in employees as young as 12.
At the time it was the job of children to trample down fluffy raw asbestos fibre found in large shipping bags.
From miners board to taking on corporates
Schepers was born in 1915 in Philippolis in the Orange Free State, now Free State Province.
He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degrees in 1938 at Wits University. These were later followed by a Doctor of Science degree in 1945 and a Doctor of Medicine degree three years later.
While his interests varied, Schepers’s passion was deeply rooted in human palaeontology, which brought him into contact with Robert Broom, a South African expert with whom he worked on excavations of australopithecine remains at Sterkfontein and elsewhere.
A leaky heart valve disqualified Schepers from the military service during World War II. He was later sent to work on the Miners Phthisis Medical Board in Joburg, where he remained until 1954.
A fellowship from the Harkness Foundation allowed Schepers to pursue his studies in the US and in 1949 he visited asbestos production, processing and research facilities in North America.
He studied industrial medicine under Dr Anthony Lanza and in 1952 became the chairman of the pulmonary disability committee of the Miners Tuberculosis Bureau.
In 1954 Schepers was awarded the Queen’s Coronation Medal in recognition of his service in the field of pulmonary disease disability. He later became the director of the Saranac Laboratory, renowned for its work in occupational diseases.
In his research Schepers compiled an in-depth report on his observations on experimental work being done for asbestos companies. However, the report was handed over to Vandiver Brown, a chief lawyer at the Manville Corporation, one of the world’s biggest asbestos conglomerates.
Brown sought for the report to be suppressed amid fears of revelations of their handling of asbestos. Schepers refused and submitted it to authorities when he returned to South Africa.
This signalled the beginning of what was to become Schepers’s hardest fight against corporate crimes, but he soldiered on. The report was, however, buried.
In 1975 Schepers, who had already moved to the US, agreed to testify in asbestos personal injury cases in US courts against some of the companies that had employed him.
He told of his experiences with the asbestos industry on behalf of asbestos plaintiffs.
Months before he died Schepers gave an interview to a Canadian journalist, Lorraine Mallinder, and an article titled Deadly Secret was published.
In his essay, Barry Castleman, a consultant to the asbestos plaintiffs bar, wrote: “I had a number of court encounters with Dr Schepers over the years. I owe him a debt for having carefully recorded his thoughts on chrysotile before they became opprobrious to plaintiff’s counsel. He helped me win some interesting cases.” - Saturday Star
l Information on Schepers’s work from the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat in a piece written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and Barry Castleman.