University College Oxford Record 2020

Terry continued his interest in politics as an
(unsuccessful) parliamentary candidate for the
Liberals throughout the 60s and 70s. Throughout
his career Terry was committed to social justice,
becoming Chairman of the British Association
of Social Workers and spokesperson for the
International Federation of Social Workers. As
chair of their Human Rights committee, Terry
spoke out against racial injustice in South Africa
and campaigned successfully with Amnesty
International for the release of political prisoners
in South America, Israel and the Philippines. Most
of Terry’s friends and colleagues never knew
how significant his quiet acts of negotiation were
on an international scale, yet they would have
recognised these as his intrinsic qualities.
Author of four books about Social
Work, Terry received the OBE in
2000, following his retirement as
Executive Director of Housing and
Social Services in the Royal Borough
of Kensington and Chelsea. Terry’s
work was further acknowledged in
2008 when he received the Andrew
Mouravieff Apostol award for his
outstanding contribution to International
Social Work. In retirement, Terry continued to
advise parliamentary committees on the vexed
issue of social care funding. This month saw the
publication of his fifth book, a co-edited History
of Social Work, completed a week before his
accident.
Terry chaired and supported numerous
charities, as well as numerous other organisations
within the health care, mental health, and
homelessness sectors. His vocation for
empowering the voiceless and improving the
lives of others was lifelong.
Terry knew how to live life to the full. He
loved spending time on the terraces at Luton
Town Football Club; supporting the Chichester
Festival Theatre; having a punt at Goodwood
and Cheltenham; singing loudly and tunelessly to
Bruce Springsteen and spending time with his six
grandchildren supporting their own endeavours
– even accompanying them on protest marches.
Everyone who met Terry commented on his
warmth, his humility and his ability to make them
feel at ease in his company. An unassuming man, he
lived his life to improve the lives of others. Those
who benefitted from his boundless wisdom, his
compassion, his love and his humour, know that
he was one of a kind. Terry is survived by his wife
of 54 years, Margaret, their two children, and six
grandchildren, all of whom are determined to
ensure his legacy endures.
SIR JOHN RIDLEY PATTISON
(Barnard Castle School) died on
18 March 2020 aged 77. He read
Medicine at Univ. The following tribute
is a shortened version of one which
appeared in the British Medical Journal,
and is used, along with this photograph,
with their permission:
In 1995 the government appointed
John Pattison chair of its advisory committee
on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Dubbed “the man who couldn’t lie,” Pattison was
recommended by agriculture minister Douglas
Hogg as someone the public could trust when
they no longer trusted politicians. His success was
such that, remarkably, he was knighted in 1998,
after only three years in office.
Pattison evolved into a model scientific
expert at a critical time. BSE had become one of
the biggest public health crises since the Second
World War. More than 150 people died from
80 University College Record | October 2020