My brother, Michael McColgan, who has died aged 83, was a lifelong socialist and political activist. He gave up his career as a German university lecturer to retrain as a lawyer so that he could represent people fighting for justice, and was involved in the cases of the Orgreave miners in the 1980s and in the fight for truth and justice following the Hillsborough disaster.
Mike was born in Islington, north London, the son of Lilian (nee Martin), a librarian, and Patrick McColgan, a local government officer – both leftwing activists. He grew up in Chingford, Essex, and attended the Monoux grammar school, Walthamstow (now Sir George Monoux college).
