My father, Colin Rochester, who has died aged 80 following chest and fungal infections, was a leading member of the scholarly community that explored and helped to define the key theoretical and practical features of what became recognised as the voluntary sector.
After a spell following university as a further education lecturer, Colin worked for the Workers’ Educational Association for 10 years, latterly as national development officer, before becoming in 1978 head of Cambridge House and Talbot, the Cambridge University settlement in south London working to tackle poverty and social injustice.
Towards the end of his period at Cambridge House he became one of the first cohort of part-time students to study the voluntary sector at Brunel University. He was taught by the leading scholar David Billis, who was to remain a mentor and friend.
Obtaining his MA in 1987, Colin embarked on a second career as a consultant and researcher on voluntary organisations and volunteering. This led to lecturing and research posts at the LSE and from 1999 at Roehampton University, where he established the Centre for the Study of Voluntary and Community Activity. After his retirement from Roehampton in 2007, he continued to undertake research and write about voluntary action, and he held visiting fellowships at Birkbeck, LSE and the University of Kent.
Colin made a significant contribution to the literature. As well as chapters, articles and handbooks, he produced six books, including An Introduction to the Voluntary Sector (1995), edited with Justin Davis Smith and Rodney Hedley, and Volunteering and Society in the 21st Century (2010), with Angela Ellis Paine and Steven Howlett. He also contributed guides and handbooks aimed at voluntary sector practitioners. Colin played a major role in the development of an academic community focused on voluntary action.
He was born in Palmers Green, north London, the younger son of Arthur, a GPO telephone engineer, and Ellen (nee Lowe), a “nippy” or waitress at Lyons Corner House and school dinner lady. He was educated at Edmonton County school and at the University of Exeter, where he read history, and met Irene Goss, a fellow student, whom he married in 1965. They went on to have me. Irene died in 2007 and Colin later formed a longstanding personal and professional partnership with Meta Zimmeck.
Colin had three other keen interests alongside his work. A self-taught clarinet and saxophone player who possessed more enthusiasm than technical prowess, he co-led a jazz band for more than 30 years. After a short and undistinguished playing career, he became a keen supporter and member of both Surrey and Middlesex county cricket clubs. He managed to combine both those interests with a third – the enjoyment of real ale.
He is survived by Meta and me, and by his brother, Brian, and sister, Robbie.
