Leo Marquard
Leopold Marquard was a South African educator, writer and founding member of the Liberal Party. He was born in Winburg in the Free State where his father, Rev. JJT Marquard - after whom the town of Marquard was named - was pastor of the local NG congregation. Marquard received his education in his native village and at the Grey College, Bloemfontein. He then left for Oxford as a Rhodes Scholarship holder.
Marquard served in the British Air Force during the First World War. After the war, he began to teach. In 1924 he was one of the founders of NUSAS. In 1940, he joined the South African forces in World War II and achieved great success as head of the Army Education Service. After the war, he headed the operations of Oxford University Press in Southern Africa. He has also written extensively on history, education and sociology.
Marquard represented South Africa at UNESCO and was a leading figure in the South African Institute of Race Relations. On 9 May 1953, he was co-founder of the Liberal Party.
He died on 27 March 1974.
