UP EXPERT OPINION: Farewell to a cosmopolitan Canadian scholar-diplomat

This article was first published by Business Day South Africa on 19 January 2026. 

David Malone, a cosmopolitan Canadian scholar-diplomat, recently died at the age of 71. His father, Paul, was a diplomat (as were two of his brothers), while his mother, Deidre, was a journalist who encouraged her son’s lifelong love of travel across India.

Malone attended a boarding school in Paris before completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Montreal. He obtained a master’s degree at Harvard University in the US and a doctorate from Oxford University in England while working as a diplomat.

Malone served in Cairo and Amman before assuming senior positions in the Canadian foreign ministry in Ottawa, becoming deputy permanent representative to the UN and high commissioner in New Delhi (his favourite post). He directed the New York-based International Peace Academy (IPA), now the International Peace Institute; Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa; and the UN University in Tokyo. A leading global scholar of the UN Security Council, he published 18 books on diverse topics such as Haiti, Iraq, India, Asia/Pacific, the US, the UN, higher education and economic development.

Malone was most proud to have mentored a long list of younger scholars. I first met him at Oxford in 1995 where we were completing our doctorates on security-related topics. I would later work with him at IPA in New York for five years. He was a formidable mentor from whom I learned a great deal.

I once travelled with him to Europe on a fundraising trip, and was awed by his mastery of detail and effortless engagement with an extensive network. I observed how he produced 31 books over six years, on cutting edge issues related to the UN’s work, and engaged in policy development at the very highest levels of the world body, while building close relations with the most powerful permanent representatives in Turtle Bay.

His generosity, mentorship and intelligence shone through until the very end.

Malone was a quick thinker, and often made decisions with the same speed. I eventually discovered he could sometimes be persuaded to change his mind. Early on in our collaboration he called me into his office after a particularly robust presentation I had made criticising French and US neocolonial military interventions in Africa. He asked me to tone down my criticisms, but I politely demurred, and continued to speak my mind.

It was to his great credit that rather than holding this against me he promoted me to director of the institute’s Africa programme at the age of 34. When I left IPA with Malone’s full blessing to direct the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, he remained a consistently supportive mentor who often praised my leadership of what he considered Africa’s best conflict resolution think tank.

As president of IDRC he invited me to contribute a chapter on regional integration in Africa and Latin America to a book he was co-editing on economic development. As rector of the UN University he was the extravagant host in Tokyo, skillfully chairing a public lecture I delivered on conflict resolution in Africa.

I was surprised, though, to see so many white and male researchers, a far cry from his diverse and cosmopolitan team at IPA. I returned the favour by hosting Malone at a lively lecture on the UN Security Council in 2021 at the University of Johannesburg. He consistently offered encouraging comments on my fortnightly columns until three weeks before his death.

The last time I saw Malone in person was when he hosted a brunch with a small group in New York in 2023. His generosity, mentorship and intelligence shone through until the very end. These are the qualities for which he will most fondly be remembered.

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is a professor and senior research fellow at the Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Pretoria.