Bruce Berry (1940–2014) was a British

perpetual student A perpetual student, gradual student, or career student is either a college or university attendee who either pursues multiple terminal degrees or re-enrolls for several years more than is necessary to obtain a given degree. Holders of multiple ...

. He took his first degree from

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1963, and continued to study from the 1970s onwards, coming to possess several further Bachelor's and master's degrees (from universities including

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and Normandy University, Caen), as well as a Ph.D. from

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

. He died before completing his twelfth degree, another Ph.D. Fluent in several languages, he was also a Fellow of the

Chartered Institute of Linguists Founded as the ''Institute of Linguists'' in 1910, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) received its royal charter in 2005, and is the UK's not-for-profit royal charter body for languages and linguists. CIOL supports linguists in their ...

. Berry was a member of Mensa, and when asked about his rationale behind for his degrees he stated “I just get this Faustian thirst for knowledge. I like to keep an open mind – anything which catches my interest, I go for it.” Altogether, Berry earned three Bachelor's degrees, seven Master's degrees and a Ph.D. After retiring from a career including technical document translation for

Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1867. In 1925, the comp ...

, working for the Post Office, and teaching, he worked as a lollipop man (crossing guard).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Bruce 1940 births 2014 deaths 20th-century scholars 21st-century scholars Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of York Linguists from the United Kingdom Mensans University of Caen Normandy alumni