Keith Benzies

Keith John Benzies OBE (19 June 1938 – 12 May 2002) was an Anglican bishop in Madagascar. He was the Bishop of Antsiranana from 1982 until his death in 2002.

Early life Benzies was born in Stepps, Lanarkshire, the son of John Young Benzies, a professor of thermodynamics, (1914-1994) and his wife Jeanette Evelyn (née Beckett) (1913-1956). Both his mother and younger brother Roger died in the 1956 BOAC Argonaut accident at Kano Airport in Nigeria. Benzies was educated at the University of Glasgow, obtaining a MA in Czech and French in 1960.

Clerical career Benzies trained for ordination at Salisbury Theological College, and was ordained deacon in 1962 and priest in 1963. He was Vice-Principal of St Paul's Theological College, Ambatoharanana (1966-1969) and then Principal (1969-1979) as well as being concurrently, in part, Chancellor (1970-1975). He was awarded an OBE in 1993.

Personal life Benzies died in office in 2002, aged 63, from malaria. He was unmarried, but had many adopted children whom he put through education and into employment.