Message to Reception Honouring Vic Falkenheim's 50 Years of Teaching

In 1983, Vic took over supervision of my doctoral dissertation when Bill Saywell left the U of T to become President of Simon Fraser.

It was a wonderful apprenticeship, both in the Sidney Smith Building and with the Joint Centre for Modern East Asia. The Joint Centre was a very active Centre under Vic's direction. As I recall, most of the Joint Centre seminars, usually held at Glendon, commenced or terminated with a celebratory duck dinner at the Fang Shan Restaurant. That restaurant was strategically located on Eglinton and Avenue Road between York and U of T and not far east of where Vic lived in those years. Excellent free Chinese meals washed down with Tsingtao beer was one of the many benefits of being an apprentice of Professor Falkenheim.

Insofar as his mentoring went, Vic explained to me that key to his own success in completion of his thesis at Columbia was "valium and scotch." Now that I am older I all the more appreciate the wisdom of that advice.

In return, when he and family went away in the summer, I happily moved into his house, slept in his bed, fed the cat and cut his lawn; as was the expectation for grad students in those years.

So 50 years on, thank you for everything, Vic! I am so grateful to be one of your trainee successors in China studies.