My mother, Norma Rinsler, who has died aged 95, was a lecturer in French who rose to become a professor and dean of the faculty of arts at King’s College London, where one of her major achievements was to secure the archives of the Adam International Review literary magazine, which include original pieces of artwork and manuscripts by a number of key 20th-century artists.
Norma was born in London to Julian Lee, a carpenter, and Frances (nee Izbitsky), a seamstress. She did well at North London Collegiate school despite her education being disrupted by the second world war, and went on to study at Newnham College, Cambridge. In her first week there she met Michael Rinsler, my father, and gave up her studies to move to London to be with him, marrying in 1948. She completed her degree in French literature in 1951 and later a PhD in 1961, both at University College London.
