Philanthropist Wendy Ackerman to receive SU honorary doctorate

Wendy Ackerman | image supplied

Ackerman will receive her degree in December along with novelist Damon Galgut and visionary economist professor Deirdre McCloskey.

Jazz singer-songwriter Jonathan Butler; renowned clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist professor Salim Safrudeen Abdool Karim; and the country’s longest-serving director-general, Dr Philemon Mjwara, formerly of the Department of Science and Innovation, will receive theirs next year.

SU annually confers honorary doctorates upon extraordinary individuals who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and made a significant contribution to society.

These candidates were selected through an extensive governance process with each nomination having been approved by both the senate and the university’s council. The latest cohort of honorary doctorates were approved by council on 16 September.

Ackerman’s philanthropy has spanned over several decades, with her consistent support benefitting women, children, and the arts for more than 40 years.

She will receive the degree Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil), honoris causa. The Ackermans helped build one of the country’s pre-eminent FMCG retailers, consisting of around 2 000 stores and employing around 90 000 people.

As one of the founders and Honorary Life President of Pick n Pay stores, her work to empower and promote women has been a hallmark of her efforts at Pick n Pay.

She was instrumental in getting women recognised as senior, career-oriented employees in the 1970s, seen at the time to have been too progressive for some companies.

Now devoting much of her time to her family's philanthropic endeavours and work for the underprivileged and vulnerable, she continues to fight for women’s rights today.

She is involved in several education initiatives, but her greatest passion is the support she gives to promising students, particularly music students.

She has run bursary schemes since 1973 and her graduates have achieved outstanding success, some performing at the finest orchestras and opera houses throughout the world. She is also a Trustee of the Pick n Pay Bursary Fund which assists children of employees.

Ackerman is a life-long supporter of the arts in the Cape Metropole and has put enormous effort into creating an endowment for the arts in Cape Town, specifically for the city’s opera and orchestra.

She has a strong affiliation with SU, as her father was a medical student in the 1920s and five of her grandchildren are Matie alumni.