My husband, Dick Wilson, who has died aged 87, from Alzheimer’s disease, was a polymath, linguist and politician. He used his extensive knowledge and skills, enhanced by kindness and unflinching commitment to social justice, to enrich his community wherever he lived.
In the 1970s Dick made a major contribution to local politics in our home town of Nottingham. From 1973 and 1977, he was leader of the newly Labour-controlled Nottinghamshire county council, bringing new ways of running county councils, establishing a political executive ratified by a formal committee structure, for instance, and introducing the post of chief executive as a complement to the political leadership. Nationally he made his mark as leader of the Labour group on the Association of County Councils. From 1977, until Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, he had too short a period as chairman of Nottingham Health Authority.
