Jim Houston (1922–2026)

23 March 2026

We remember and celebrate the life of Jim Houston, an alumnus of Hertford College and our first Tutorial Fellow in Geography, who died peacefully on Sunday 15 March at the age of 103.

Born in Edinburgh, Jim matriculated at Hertford in 1945 (BSc 1948; DPhil 1950). After a period as a college lecturer, he was appointed Hertford’s first Tutorial Fellow in Geography, serving from 1964 to 1971, and was Bursar from 1967 to 1970. He spent more than 25 years at the University of Oxford, most of that time associated with Hertford. As a geographer, he was best known for his book The Western Mediterranean World: An Introduction to its Regional Landscapes (1964).

Jim was raised in the Plymouth Brethren, and in Oxford was active with many of the Christian intellectuals of the time, including C.S. Lewis. In 1970 he moved to Vancouver, where he became the founding Principal of Regent College. He lectured in churches and at conferences and theological schools around the globe, and co-founded the C.S. Lewis Institute in Washington, D.C. He wrote, co-authored and edited more than 30 books, and his autobiography was published in 2020.

He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in Vancouver on Saturday 2 May and will be livestreamed.

 

Image credit: Hhss8228, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons