Margaretha Delina Hofmeyr was born in Kimberly, Northern Cape Province, South Africa, and trained academically in the Western Cape Province, receiving her Master's degree in mammalian physiological ecology at Stellenbosch University and her PhD in ungulate thermoregulation at the University of Cape Town, supervised by the renowned Professor Gideon Louw. Her exemplary research and teaching career spanned 4 decades at the University of the Western Cape, a Historically Black University, where she became chair of the Zoology Department in 1991. Retha was a dedicated and challenging teacher and beloved mentor to several generations of students (undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral), many of whom became prominent academics, government officials, and research scientists in South Africa and overseas (Henen 2020).
Retha's keen intellect and robust foundation in physiological ecology and integrative biology (e.g., Gericke et al. 1978; Hofmeyr 1985; Schumann et al. 2005) helped her tackle the challenge...
