Academic, editor and dramaturge, Tim Mares' nickname came about because as the youngest of three he was dubbed 'tiny Tim'. He graduated from Durham University (UK) in 1950 and then from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Literature from Lincoln College in 1954. He came to Perth in about 1958 to take up a lectureship and in 1961 arrived in Adelaide as a senior lecturer in English at Adelaide University. With an MA from Essex University, England (1971) he was elected the first Dean of the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Arts in 1971 and introduced the University's first linguistics course.
Mares had a particular interest in theatre, and was on the SA Theatre Company's first board. He was the first Australian editor for the Revels Plays series. A Shakespeare scholar of international repute, he published editions of Much Ado About Nothing and Antony and Cleopatra.
Married in 1950, Mares was divorced in the 1980s. After retirement in 1986, he was active in research, editing, theatre for young people, and in the University of the Third Age. Over the years he held visiting lectureships in a number of universities in New Zealand, the United States and Europe. With his partner Robin Eaden (q.v.) he formed an academic relationship with Prague, helping establish an Australian Literature course there in 1993.
Mares died in a car accident en route to Yorke Peninsula. His partner of ten years, Robin Eaden died with him.
