Prof. Henry Frendo, director, Institute of Maltese Studies, University of Malta, writes:

The passing away of Fr Lawrence Attard leaves quite a void, not least in the history of Maltese emigration, to which much of his academic effort was dedicated during a lifetime.

The editor of the Emigrants’ Commission’s Lil Ħutna magazine for 13 years, an all-importnt source of migrant news in print from all over the world, Fr Attard also coordinated the Migrants’ Magazine on radio for 18 years.

He has written extensively about Maltese emigration, mainly in English, and thus offered a lasting a sensitive and empirical reference point and insight on the subject for the benefit of succeeding generations.

General overviews of Maltese emigration history have included his chapter in Frendo & Friggieri’s Malta: Culture and Identity and more recently his panorama Beyond our Shores.

A Vittoriosa man, Fr Attard was a valued colleague in the Institute of Maltese Studies, where emigration and overseas settlements have been an established part of the curriculum since 2009. He taught four of our three-year courses.

When I last saw him at Karin Grech Hospital some months ago he told me that it was the late Professor Andrew Vella, a fellow Dominican, then our Professor of History, who had facilitated his postgraduate years at Oxford, although Fr Attard was also a graduate of Dublin University.

To his family and his parishioners, my deepest sympathies.