In memoriam: Barbara Mace

With great sadness the family of Barbara Mace have announced  that after a short illness, Barbara has died peacefully, with her children at her bedside, in the Liverpool Royal Hospital.

In one capacity or another Barbara worked with me for  three decades. At Liverpool John Moores she became the office manager of the Foundation for Citizenship, which I founded in 1997, and she did so much of the organisation of around 130 Roscoe Lectures.

Her fantastic work in being the go-to person for the Foundation and the Lectures was indispensable.

Barbara took the idea of active citizenship really seriously, getting involved in many voluntary organisations. She was a trustee of a charity and elected as a City Councillor for the Woolton Ward.

Beyond her professional and civic life, Barbara was devoted to her children, Mark and Claire, and to her grandchildren.

All of us who knew Barbara - especially the team at LJMU who worked with her - will greatly miss her calm unflappability, her kindness and consideration for others, her professionalism and deep commitment to her family, her city, and to her work.

May she now rest in peace.

Professor Lord David Alton, former MP for Liverpool and Ambassador Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.