We are saddened to report the recent death of Derek A Schofield, a former Registrar and Secretary at the University of Southampton.
Derek graduated from the University of Southampton with a First Class Honours BA in History in 1956 – the first person in the history of the University to do so. He then became the President of the Students’ Union in 1956-57, and in this role he was instrumental in securing the evening opening of the library. He obtained a research degree in History, graduating in 1959. The University awarded Derek an Honorary Degree (Hon DLitt) in 1993.
During the 1960s, as Academic Registrar, Derek was a member of the Medical School Committee that developed the initial plans and submission for the creation of the University’s Medical School, which admitted its first students in 1971.
In 1978 Derek took up the senior leadership role of Registrar and Secretary from which he retired in 1992. Among his many great achievements was the professionalisation of the administration from the less formal days of the early 1960s to an outfit in his own image – efficient, dynamic, responsive and above all, human. A remarkable number of colleagues benefitted from that, both in the short and the long term, and went on themselves to become Secretary and Registrars at the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Exeter, Kent, Nottingham, UCL, the British University in Cairo, the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Courtauld Institute.
Derek died peacefully on 25 October 2021 aged 90. He was the beloved husband of Maureen, loving father of Sarah, Robert and William, and a dearly loved grandfather to his eight grandchildren.
Former colleagues and friends of Derek are welcome to join the online streaming of his funeral to be held at 14.00 on Friday 19 November. Please use the link below which will go live five minutes before the service is due to start: https://youtu.be/dbCFXMkyMmo
The University will fly the flag at half-mast on Friday 19 November to honour the memory of an alumnus and distinguished colleague who dedicated a significant part of his life to the University and higher education.
