Lives Remembered: Nicco Gillett

My father, the educationalist and pacifist Nicholas (Nicco) Gillett, who died on 23 June aged 93, was born into a well-established Quaker family. He was brought up in Oxford, where his father ran the family bank. He went to school at Leighton Park in Reading and went on to Oxford University.

Although he was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, it seemed that the greatest influence on his life outside his immediate family was Field Marshall Jan Smuts, who was a close family friend. Indeed, Nicco's father remarked towards the end of his life, "The great thing in our lives has been the friendship with Jannie". The relationship of Smuts to the family had begun when his mother met him when working with Boer women in prison camps in South Africa. Smuts, known in the family as "Oom Jannie", was a leading figure in the formation of the League of Nations and the United Nations.

When Nicco visited China with a disarmament group, among the dignitaries he met was an official who ended his career as a senior advisor to the Red Army. To Nicco's astonishment he said he was a Quaker and had a thorough knowledge of Quaker history and practice which he had picked up from Quakers missionaries. When visiting the UK he went out of his way to meet Nicco and his second wife, Mehr. When later he heard that my brother David had died in an accident, he wrote a beautiful poem about him.

Nicco had an abiding interest in education and enjoyed three tours of duty overseas from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, working for Unesco as an adviser on community education in the Philippines, Thailand and Iran. He became a committed supporter of the United Nations Association UK and was instrumental in fund-raising for a post named after an ancestor of his, John Bright, for peace and conflict research.

For more than 30 years he was a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. He was described by a fellow trustee as sharing a family characteristic of the Rowntrees: to give unhesitating and unstinting support to a wide range of people who were, as Joseph Rowntree put it, "doing the work that had to be done". A quote from Rowntree he often mentioned was that "new occasions teach new duties". He was strongly influenced by his eldest son, David, who predeceased him, about environmental issues before these became more mainstream concerns.

He was a key figure in the establishment of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations in 1956 and was also involved in providing support for the establishment of the Nuclear Freeze Movement in the UK and the Oxford Research Group, which was designed to promote dialogue with nuclear decision-makers.

His main career was in teaching and lecturing on education. His final post was at Bristol University's Department of Education, from which he retired in 1979. He also fitted in two other periods working abroad: for the Society of Friends as Quaker representatives, first in Belfast (1975-77) and then in Geneva (1981-82), along with his first wife Ruth. He also served on the board of Oxfam (1982-88). Ruth was a stoical supporter of Nicco during all the ups and downs of family life caused by his peripatetic lifestyle. She died in 1988.

Nicco was a fervent supporter of CND and went on numerous Aldermaston marches. Once when he received a tax demand he withheld that portion of tax that he calculated went to fund the development of nuclear weapons. After a number of further demands a bailiff was sent round to impound valuable items. Furniture was taken, but not before the bailiff burst into tears at the strength of the arguments put to her by Nicco and Ruth.

He wrote a biography of Dag Hammarskjold, as well as Training for Teaching with John Sadler and an autobiography, Abolishing War: One Man's Attempt. His final years at his home in south Cheshire were difficult as he suffered from Parkinson's disease, but he was sustained by the care of Mehr and the visits of many friends and family. In 1999 he received the Gandhi Foundation Peace Award from Lord Attenborough. He leaves five children and 11 grandchildren from his first marriage.

Bevis Gillett

If you would like to contribute an obituary of a friend or family member who has died since 1 June, please send a piece of no more than 500 words to Obituaries, 'The Independent', 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS, by email to obituaries@independent.co.uk or by fax to 020 7005 2010. We reserve the right to edit copy for length and style.