Fabian Mangion writes:
Victor Jaccarini, a member of a large family of four boys and three girls, was born in Senglea to Carmelo and Mary née Soler on July 28, 1931.
Bred in Senglea, Victor received his primary education at the locality’s government primary school. At the age of nine, then in Standard III, he experienced the Luftwaffe attack on HMS Illustrious that was moored at Parlatorio Wharf at the foot of Corradino Hill. He recalled he memories of that fateful day in an article in Times of Malta on March 9, 2013.
Since dwelling in Senglea became rather unsafe, the Jaccarini family went, first, to Rabat where they stayed for a couple of weeks with the Conventual Franciscan Friars, in a tiny parlour. Later, the family was evacuated to Gozo but the father remained in Senglea for he felt it his duty as a doctor to remain there to tend the many casualties from continuous air-raids. Carmelo Jaccarini was, in fact, the district medical officer in Senglea.
He continued his secondary schooling at the Gozo and Malta (Ħamrun and Valletta) lyceums.
In 1948, he joined the Society of Jesus. This he did following the footsteps of his eldest brother, Mario, who joined the same Society on October 1, 1945, just a few months after the end of World War II.
Subsequently, he graduated Lic. Phil. at Heythrop College and S.Th.Lic. at Woodstock College, Maryland, USA in 1965, BA (Oxon.) with first-class honours in zoology, MA (Oxon.) in 1964 and Ph.D. (Lond.) in zoology in 1971.
He was ordained priest at Woodstock College in 1964. On his return to Malta, he was appointed part-time lecturer in physiology and biochemistry at the Royal University of Malta (1966-67). Between 1971 and 1980, he was lecturer in zoology at the University.
A zoologist and hydrobiologist of international standing, he planned and set up the Marine Station of the Royal University of Malta at Fort San Luċjan (1972-75) and administered this station and directed its research (1975-80). In 1980, he was appointed senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, where, since 1986, he has been professor of zoology. He was also chairman of the Hydrobiological Society of Africa (1988-91) and of the Biological Society of Africa (1991-94).
From 1998 till 2008, he was at the Jesuit Spirituality Centre, Mwangaza, as retreat guide and for several years also superior and director of the centre. Since 2008, he formed part of the staff of the Jesuit-run Mount St Joseph Retreat House, in Mosta.
His publications include: The Ecology of Mangrove and related Eco-systems (editors: V. Jaccarini and E. Martens); Proceedings of the international symposium held at Mombasa, Kenya, September 1990 (Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1992); Recent Advances in Hydrobiology and Fisheries in Eastern Africa (editors: V. Jaccarini, K.M. Mavuti, and E. Martens); and Hydrobiologica, vol. 232, no. l (Dordrecht, Boston 1992).
He also co-authored over 30 research papers in marine biology and related areas published in international journals.
It was on June 29, 2014 that the good Lord received him in his heavenly home Fr. Victor, the servant who had served Him so lovingly and faithfully for the 66 years of his life as a Jesuit, 28 of which spent in the Eastern Africa Province.