My father, Ivor Smith, who has died aged 92, personified the benefits of widening access to higher education. Having left school aged 15, and started work at the General Electric Company in Birmingham, he managed to gain the necessary qualifications for university admission and eventually became professor of electrical power engineering at Loughborough University, where he also served as head of the electronic and electrical engineering department, dean of engineering and pro-vice-chancellor.
He wrote or contributed to more than 450 technical papers and served on the MoD’s Defence Scientific Advisory Council. In 1988 he was elected fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
