Ampie Muller

Ampie Muller (1930-2019) was an academic, conflict negotiator, radio announcer, author and part-time actor.

Biography

Born Adriaan Diederichs Muller in Warden, Orange Free State, on 27 December 1930, the brother of the journalist and editor Piet Muller, he had his schooling at the Dirkie Uys Hoërskool in Warden (1937 – 1948), where his father was the principal. He then went to to the University of Pretoria to where he completed a BA (Psychology and Philosophy), BA Hons (Clinical Psychology) and an MA (Psychology) between 1949 – 1954.

While studying, he was employed by the National Institute for Personnel Research (N.I.P.R.) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1952 and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (as announcer-producer) in 1953-4.

In 1955 he was granted a scholarship from the Nederlandsch Zuid-Afrikaanse Vereeniging in order to attend the Free University of Amsterdam, in order to complete a Doctorandus Psychologiae (1956) and a D.Litt et Phil (1958).

On his return he had another short stint at the Council for Educational and Scientific Research, Pretoria, before obtaining a post as senior lecturer and founder of the Psychology Department at the University College of Fort Hare (1959-1965). He would go on to teach and serve as professor and dean at a number of South African universities over the next 30 years and more, often as the founder a Psychology Department and/or research institutes at most of them. His permanent positions were at the University of Port Elizabeth (1966 to 1974), the University of the Witwatersrand (1975 -1976), University of the Western Cape (1977-December 1990), and also had permanent and temporary teaching/consulting appointments at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of the Western Cape. He also had part-time/consultancy positions at the University of Stellenbosch (1979-2000) and the University of Cape Town (1977-98).

Muller spent much of his academic life also working as a consultant in the fields of conflict resolution, peace studies, organizational development and the creative use of differences. In this respect he was inter alia the founding Chair of the South African Association for Conflict Intervention in 1986, the Senior Consultant at the Centre for Intergroup Studies (now the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town) for 21 years and a member of the National Peace Committee after Nelson Mandela was released.

Muller met and married his first wife, Ria Louw (1932-1964), the daughter of poet and academic N.P. van Wyk Louw and Louw's first wife, Joan Wessels, while he was studying in Amsterdam. The couple had three children.

In 1997 he met and later married Beverley Roos-Muller, a colleague at Fine Music Radio.

He passed away in Cape Town on 5 September, 2019.

Contribution to South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance

Muller had a fine, trained baritone voice and had always loved acting and singing. For example, he put himself through Pretoria University by working as the singer in a Boereorkes ("folk music band") and working as a part-time presenter for the Afrikaans service of the SABC in Johannesburg (travelling through three nights a week). After graduating BA Hons, he took up acting more seriously, and appeared in several productions done by Anna Neethling-Pohl in Pretoria.

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  Killa Esterhuizen and Ampie Muller in the 1952 JAATS production (click on picture to view)

However, though he loved theatre, but he felt it was wiser to take up the doctorate scholarship to Amsterdam that he had been offered, as it offered more financial stability. However, he never quite cut the cord entirely and over the years did occasional performances and much radio work.

Stage work

As an actor, he was a member of the Johannesburg amateur company JAATS, and had roles in a number of their productions, including Die Swart Engel (1952), Bitter Einde (1955).

In 1972, while head of department at the University of Port Elizabeth, Muller was also in a production of Guys and Dolls at the Port Elizabeth Opera House.

Radio

He worked as a voice artist for the SABC for many years and joined the radio station FMR (Fine Music Radio) in March 1996 as an announcer and later editor, working there till February 2016. A well known reviewer himself, one who wrote and spoke widely on literature and music matters over the years, he also used his position as editor of the program Boekkeuse (an Afrikaans book review programme) to involve other authors, reviewers and artists in his programmes.

Television

He appeared in the award-winning two-episode SABC documentary N.P. van Wyk Louw – die mens agter die boek by Katinka Heyns in 1985.

Cultural publications

Muller was a regular book reviewer for English and Afrikaans newspapers,

His final cultural project was a compilation called Vuur in sy Vingers, dedicated to his first father-in-law, poet and playwright N.P. van Wyk Louw, with that includes his own affectionate memories of the poet, as well contributions by Louw's family (including both living children, Reinet and Peter), Ampie's wife, Beverley Roos-Muller, his brother Piet Muller (who had been Louw's publisher/editor) as well as contributions by more than forty major SA authors and creative artists, among them J.M. Coetzee, Antjie Krog, Joan Hambidge, Karel Schoeman, Max du Preez, P.G. du Plessis, Katinka Heyns and Marlene Dumas.

The book was posthumously finalised for publication by Beverley Roos-Muller and published by Hemel en See Boeke in 2020.

Sources

Curriculum Vitae of Emeritus Professor Ampie (Adriaan Diederichs) Muller, 27.12.1930 – 5.9.2019 (courtesy of Beverley Roos-Muller, 2024)

Correspondence with Beverley Roos-Muller (2023-2024)

Helikon, 5(21), 1955.

https://www.accord.org.za/people/ampie-muller/

https://za.linkedin.com/in/ampie-muller-3b425227

Amanda Botha. 2019. "Geliefde omroeper Ampie Muller oorlede", Die Beeld, 11 September, 2019: p. 3.

Death notice, Die Burger, 7 September, 2019

Amanda Botha. 2019. "Geliefde omroeper Ampie Muller oorlede", Die Burger, 11 September, 2019.[1]

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