29 May 2019
It is with deep sadness that we must report the death of Tessa Baring CBE on Saturday 25th May 2019.
Tessa was a trustee of the Baring Foundation from May 1985 and its Chair from to July 2004 to June 2008. Her impact on the development of the Foundation was enormous, sharpening our focus on discrimination and disadvantage, leading work on the independence of the voluntary sector and pioneering new work such as our Special Initiative on Parents with Learning Difficulties among much else. Her knowledge of the voluntary sector was unrivalled but carried with modesty. She was driven by a great sense of social justice but leavened this with her sharp wit and great kindness. Tessa was great fun as well as intellectually brilliant and a campaigner.
Her contribution to the Foundation was just one part of a highly influential lifetime of achievements in the voluntary sector, including as Chair of Barnardo’s, a Charity Commissioner and a founding board member of the National Lottery.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to have known Tessa. She left the world a better place and will be immensely missed.
David Cutler
The funeral will be held at 3pm, on 18th June, at St John’s Notting Hill. All welcome. No flowers. Donations to St Michael’s Fellowship, 136 Streatham High Street, London, SW16 1BW.