![]() |
Boards
Business
Chile
Current Affairs
Education
Environment
Foreign Affairs
Future
Health
History
In Memoriam
Innovation
Language & culture
Language and Culture
Languages & Culture
Law
Leadership
Leadership & Management
Marketing
Networking
Pedantry
People
Philanthropy
Philosophy
Politics & Econoimics
Politics & Economics
Politics and Economics
Science
Sport
Sustainability
Sustainability (or Restoration)
Technology
Worshipful Company of Marketors
![]() |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
24 November 2012In Memoriam Perran PenroseTag(s): People, In MemoriamEarlier this month my brother-in-law Perran Penrose died suddenly from a severe stroke. He was 65 and looking forward to a long and happy retirement with my sister Angela. They met at Oxford where by coincidence Perran was at New College some two years ahead of me. By the time of his premature death Perran had become one of the world’s leading independent development experts advising Governments and NGOs on public finance particularly in the field of education. He also taught and mentored widely designing courses for and teaching in distinguished academic institutions such as the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Dubai School of Government, the Maastricht Graduate School of Government, the National Chenchi University in Taipei, the Centre of Financial Management Studies (CeFiMS) and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University where his mother, Professor Edith Penrose had founded the School of Economics. In fact both Perran’s parents were distinguished academics. His father Ernest ‘Pen’ Penrose, a First World War veteran, taught at Berkeley in California where one of his students was Edith Tilton. He was part of the team that designed the Food Programme in the post second world war reconstruction of Europe. Pen and Edith married in 1945 and they then went to John Hopkins University, Baltimore in the USA. The two of them vigorously defended their fellow academic Owen Lattimore who had been falsely accused by Senator Joe McCarthy of being a Soviet spy. They were so disgusted by the experience that they became disillusioned with the US and put themselves in a form of voluntary self-exile taking sabbatical leave first to the Australian National University in Canberra and then to Baghdad University.
During this period Perran and his younger brother were educated at English boarding schools. After reading English at New College he married Angela, qualified to teach English as a foreign language, and then taught in the University of Libya and what is now Addis Ababa University. He was a government officer in the (then) North West State of Nigeria. He then moved into charitable work running Action in Distress (AID) in Burundi where he also founded the Burundi international rugby union team and played for them in their inaugural match against Ruanda.
He also taught in the areas of public finance, economics and education. He taught a popular course every summer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.[i]He was an Associate of the Cambridge University Centre for International Business and Management in the Judge Management School. He was a Tutor in Public Policy Management for the Centre of Financial Management Studies (CeFiMS) in the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, for which he directed short executive courses, including the Budget Reform Executive Programme. He wrote the CeFiMS distance learning module for the master’s degree (MSc) in Public Finance Management. He was a Visiting Fellow in the University of East Anglia. He taught over a period of three years a regular one week intensive course on Public Finance Management to senior officials of the European Commission. He taught a public finance management course for the Swedish International Development Agency in Stockholm. He also taught public finance in the Dubai School of Government, and taught in the National Chenchi University in Taipei, Taiwan.
He was Founding Chair of Link Community Development, a leading international NGO concerned with school development and education management in Africa.[ii]He was Chairman of St Piran’s Trust working tirelessly to excavate St Piran’s Oratory at Perranporth, thought to be the oldest Christian building on mainland Britain, and by 2011 sufficient funds had been raised to work on the first stage of the project. [iii] As the son of distinguished world class academics there is no doubt that Perran could have joined their ranks. In fact he did all the things academics do. He taught widely at many world class institutions. He researched widely with advantage of what he called the ‘bed bug bites’ having experienced first-hand the impact of poorly run post-colonial development. And he wrote extensively, at least a million words, but not in peer reviewed academic publications chasing research dollars, but rather in reports direct to senior government officials where it could make a difference for millions of citizens.[iv]He was not attracted to the idea of belonging to an academic institution where in his parents’ case he had observed the worst horrors of political interference in the McCarthy era and then later at a more parochial level still the unpleasant local politics of an academic institution. His independence drove him and kept him sharp.
As a development consultant he was at the top of his profession. It is no exaggeration to say that his work benefitted many millions and that many hundreds benefitted hugely from his teaching and mentoring. He was a talented musician who played the French horn to a high standard and in his last months was composing a piece to be played by the Wind Quintet he formed. He was due to go with Angela in January to Athens to teach a course to a development consultancy called 4Assist. On their website this week they posted the following:
To me Perran was a huge personality with a huge intelligence who leaves a huge hole which can’t be filled. Above all it seems to me he was brave. At his funeral last week some spoke of his integrity, and that was impressive but because it was so strong it wasn’t a choice. Nor was his intelligence. He had that naturally, he did not earn it. But bravery does imply choice and he made tough, brave choices all through his life with my sister at his side. She must have made a brave choice to go with him knowing him as she did, but it was a good choice. Blog ArchiveBoards Business Chile Current Affairs Education Environment Foreign Affairs Future Health History In Memoriam Innovation Language & culture Language and Culture Languages & Culture Law Leadership Leadership & Management Marketing Networking Pedantry People Philanthropy Philosophy Politics & Econoimics Politics & Economics Politics and Economics Science Sport Sustainability Sustainability (or Restoration) Technology Worshipful Company of MarketorsDavid's Blog |
||||||||||
© David C Pearson 2025 (All rights reserved) |