My husband, Richard Leeson, who has died aged 90, was a gifted linguist, teacher and academic leader who became deputy director of Ealing College of Higher Education, in west London.
Dick’s first managerial role was as head of the school of liberal arts at Ealing College of Technology (1971-75). He chaired the Liberal Arts Board of the Council for National Academic Awards, where he was responsible for ensuring both the quality of non-university institutions and their liberal arts programmes. He became known affectionately within the academic community as “Mr Liberal Arts”. He then became acting vice-principal and acting principal (1975-77), and then deputy director, of Ealing College of Higher Education (now called the University of West London), retiring in 1996. As deputy director, he was responsible for ensuring the high quality of all of its programmes, and continued to teach, once a fortnight, a course he created, the Critique of Translation.
