Cyril Shirley Belshaw (3 December 1921[2] – 20 November 2018) was a New Zealand-born Canadian Anthropologist and was professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) from 1953 until his retirement in 1987.
[citation needed] Belshaw was also the President of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences and of its world Congress in Canada in 1984, and was largely responsible for its reformation.
[citation needed] In 1954 Belshaw published Changing Melanesia: Social Economics of Culture Contact, which focused on work conducted in three different Melanesian territories Solomons, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia.
Based on research conducted while living with his family on the outskirts of Hanuabada from 1950 - 1951, the work was third in a series of monographs Belshaw had written on aspects of social economics in Melanesia.
[10] He went on to publish many other articles and books that include Under the Ivi Tree: Society and Economic Growth in Rural Fiji, Towers Besieged, the dilemma of the creative university, Traditional Exchange and Modern Markets, The Sorcerer's Apprentice: an anthropology of public policy.
Due to the severity of mutilation and decomposition detectives had a hard time identifying the body and contacted Belshaw for Betty's dental records.
[5] He was arrested on international warrants while taking part in a conference in Paris and the case went to trial on 3 December 1980, where Belshaw pled innocence.
[17] Belshaw was pronounced innocent of his wife's murder by reason of "very light doubt" on December 8, 1980 and following the trial, returned to his position at the University of British Columbia.