Carl Darby obituary | Higher education

My father, Carl Darby, who has died aged 90, worked in various roles in education in London, starting out as a chemistry lecturer before becoming a schools’ liaison officer, an external relations officer and finally a computer science lecturer. His career was inspired in part by the respect he felt for the opportunities opened up by the 1944 Education Act as well as by his love of chemistry and computing.

Even in retirement he did some part-time teaching of A-level computing at a secondary school, and he also ran computing courses at a community education centre.

Carl was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, to Candace (nee Jennings), a homemaker and part-time retail assistant, and Arthur Darby, who worked for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. He went to Torquay grammar, in Devon, then Thornbury grammar, in Gloucestershire, as one of the first cohort of grammar school pupils.

He pursued his childhood love of chemistry, gaining a degree at King’s College London and a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast before in 1960 becoming a chemistry lecturer at West Ham College of Technology (later North East London Polytechnic and now the University of East London). He was well regarded by his students who appreciated his gift for conveying complex information in a clear and engaging way.

Carl was always looking for variety and fresh challenges and in 1972 he turned his skills towards working as a schools’ liaison officer and then as head of external relations from 1974 until 1981, when he changed direction again.

As an early adopter of the personal computer, he took a sabbatical to study computing science at Birkbeck College, London, and subsequently worked as principal lecturer in systems and computing at the University of East London until he retired in 1994.

He kept up with developments in computing throughout his retirement, and defied stereotype by being the person his children would turn to for advice about technology.

In his spare time he was a keen cyclist and had a love of the south of France, where he and his wife, Ruth (nee Evans), also a teacher, whom he married in 1958, would meet up with a community of friends they had built up on annual camping holidays.

He is survived by Ruth and their children, Martha and me, and grandchildren, Zak, Jem, Noah, Faith and Abraham.