Dr A.J. (Tony) Williams, 1942–2026

Dr A.J. (Tony) Williams
2 September 1942 to 24 March 2026

The Fitz family was saddened to hear of the sudden death of Dr Tony Williams. Tony hailed from Yorkshire, and he came to the Fitz in the 1970s after studying the social behaviour of guillemots on Bear Island in Norway for his MSc with the University of Sheffield, awarded in 1972. He obtained his PhD at the Fitz in 1980 for his study of the breeding biology of crested penguins at Marion Island, with particular reference to their unusual egg dimorphism. He spent two years on Marion Island, famously spending up to a week at a time sequestered in a repurposed fibreglass water tank next to the Archway King Penguin colony, observing predation events. 

Tony was a keen naturalist who collected data on many aspects of the biology of Marion Island that fell far outside the focus of his PhD studies, and he is probably best known for his papers with Alan Burger and Kevin Hall on the impacts of seabirds on the terrestrial ecology of islands through the import of energy and nutrients, as well as their physical activities (causing erosion). After graduating, he worked for nature conservation authorities in Namibia and the Western Cape, but he always had an abiding passion for seabirds. He was also chair of the board of directors of SANCCOB from 1994 until 2001. He remained active after his retirement and was in fine form at the Fitz AGM just a week before his untimely death.