My friend Sue Fortescue, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 75, was a trailblazer across the diverse worlds of language learning, education, computing and international banking. She was also an active volunteer for a number of causes.
Sue was born in Teddington, south-west London. Her father, Dennis Fortescue, was an RAF officer, and Sue and her mother, Ann (nee Angell), led a peripatetic life throughout her schooldays, finally ending up in Leeds. At Reading University she studied French and Italian, spending time in Aix-en-Provence and Naples. She returned to Naples after her 1969 graduation, working as an English teacher for the British Council. The Ministry of Overseas Development then recruited her in 1976 to create a master’s course in education at a Nepalese university.
