My friend, colleague and mentor Peter Mack, who has died aged 68 after a car crash in France, was a major force in the academic world. Widely known as the foremost scholar of Renaissance rhetoric – the art of persuasive argument, spoken and written – Peter was resourceful enough to combine erudite scholarship with canny and dedicated leadership. When he accepted the directorship of the Warburg Institute he helped it secure a court judgment against the University of London that recognised the Warburg’s autonomy and secured its financial security, while it remained part of the university.
Born in Oxford, Peter was the oldest of four children of Hilary (nee Gardner), a nurse, and David Mack, a surveyor. His parents separated when he was 10, and he did much to look after his siblings, Carolyn, Brian and Katie. From St Lawrence college, Ramsgate, he went on to St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he gained a degree in English, and the Warburg Institute, where he completed his PhD on Rudolph Agricola and Renaissance rhetoric.
