My father, Leslie Rose, who has died after a long illness aged 89, was a man with a huge appetite for life and a deep commitment to secondary education.
His first teaching post was at Fairfield grammar school in Bristol, but he was soon appointed deputy head at one of the new flagship comprehensives, Elliott school in Putney, south-west London. In 1961 he became headteacher at the Nobel school in the new town of Stevenage, overseeing its transition from a technical grammar school into a comprehensive. He remained there for the rest of his career. Leslie had an enduring appetite for the chalk face and always resisted any move into administration or inspection before his retirement in 1989.
He was born in Burton upon Trent into a working-class family whose members were mostly employed by the breweries. He attended Burton grammar school and, after serving as an officer in the Royal Navy in the second world war, went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied history.
Leslie believed his education had provided him with a route to a successful personal and professional life and he was passionate about the postwar creation of the welfare state. So a career supporting the development of comprehensive schools was a natural move.
He lived out his commitment to social justice on many levels, often with his wife, Lisa, whom he had met at Cambridge and married shortly afterwards. In Stevenage in the 1960s they volunteered with the Family Planning Association and in the 70s they did much work for Age Concern. They also campaigned for and joined the SDP in the early 80s, Shirley Williams having been the Labour MP for Stevenage. Lisa died shortly before their retirement, but Leslie remained active in the community, delivering meals on wheels to local elderly people for many years.
His educational interests had long extended beyond the UK, and in 1969 he had taken his family to Pittsburgh while he spent a year on a teaching exchange, an experience that deepened his curiosity in all things to do with the US, including its educational system. During the 90s and until 2002, when he suffered a severe stroke, much of his time and energy went towards supporting the British Zimbabwe Society, travelling to Zimbabwe to advise teachers and to do some teaching himself.
Leslie's commitment to his work did not prevent him from being a devoted husband and father, travelling widely and avidly exploring the arts. He is survived by his children, Paul, Jeremy and me, 10 grandchildren, and his second wife, Antonia.