Bob Holman (academic)


Bob Holman was an English Christian academic, author, and community campaigner in Scotland.
Born as Robert Bones, he was educated at University College London and the London School of Economics. Holman was professor of social administration at the University of Bath. He left the university and moved with his family to the Southdown council estate in Bath in 1976.
Holman was a co-founder of Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse Project in Glasgow in 1989, and a member of Easterhouse Baptist Church. He moved to the estate in 1987.
Holman was a member of the Labour Party since 1961, and a supporter of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. He advocated a 'yes' vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Holman was married to Annette who was a medical social worker from Glasgow. They have a daughter, Ruth, who is a gynaecologist and a son David who is a lecturer in occupational psychology. He declined the award of an MBE in 2012 as an opponent of the monarchy, arguing the honours system was designed to promote differences of status to which he was opposed. Holman and his wife were awarded the title of Outstanding Contribution to Social Work by Community Care in November 2015.
Having recovered from Hodgkins lymphoma in 2010, Holman was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in summer 2015. He died in June 2016, aged 79.

Publications