Oliver Friggieri (1947 - 2020)

I was very saddened to hear about the death of Prof Oliver Friggieri. He was a great man with a fine intellect, which was matched by a very kind, humane, compassionate personality and a deep faith. There will be a time to discuss his literary and intellectual output, but today I feel I must recall one personal episode which left its mark on me.

When I was writing my undergraduate dissertation, I went to interview him at his house in Birkirkara. It was a horrible winters day - it rained all day and everywhere was flooded. To make matters worse, my brother had been admitted to ITU earlier in the day with complications from bronchitis. However, I've always believed the show must go on - and so I went to do the interview just the same.

Rather than go directly to the interview, Prof Friggieri made the time to get to know who I was and what my interests were and how my studies were proceeding. He cared about the person, as well as the subject at hand. He realised something was amiss and, at that point, I told him what had happened. He insisted I call my mother to check what was going on; and he insisted I use his phone, rather than my mobile, to do so. Then, he made me a cup of tea and we had a chat. When he was happily satisfied that I was ok, we started and concluded the interview. And before I was on my way, he gave me a signed copy of his collected poems.

Months later, I went to give him a copy of the dissertation, and he handed me a signed copy of this booklet with the inscription "biex jibqa jhobb lil Malta."

There is so much more I want to say, but I think I will stop here for now.

Today Malta lost one of its greats.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.