Obituary: Sir Richard Way

RICHARD WAY distinguished himself in three walks of life, as a civil servant, in industry and in higher education.

He was born in London in 1914, left the Polytechnic Secondary School at 18 and joined the War Office as an executive officer. His abilities were soon noticed, and after a spell as an auditor in Hong Kong, he was brought back to Whitehall and promoted rapidly.

In the early 1950s he made his mark as Command Secretary, British Army of the Rhine, where his responsibilities included financial audit and the management of the large civilian workforce. He was promoted to Deputy Under-Secretary of State in 1955 and was the obvious candidate for the post of Permanent Under- Secretary when it fell vacant in 1956, but the Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, thought him at 41 too young, and he was made to wait until 1960.

In the absence of a Permanent Under-Secretary and Accounting Officer, he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on behalf of the War Office, an unusual procedure in those days. During the interval he widened his Whitehall experience in senior posts in the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Supply.

His time as permanent head of the War Office was one when the Army was facing the difficult task of adjusting to the ending of conscription, and major organisational changes in Whitehall were in prospect, culminating in the 1963 White Paper which merged the Service departments into a large Ministry of Defence. The military members of the Army Council greatly valued his wise advice. But after three years he was required to undertake the even greater challenges of the aviation industry.

His years as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation were notable for the rapport he struck with his minister, Roy Jenkins, faced as they were in 1964 and 1965 with decisions to cancel major civil and military aircraft projects, including Concorde, which had been started by the previous Conservative administration.

Way's second career began in 1966, when he left the civil service to join the fork-lift truck manufacturers Lansing Bagnall, first as Deputy Chairman and after a year taking over as Chairman. He found private industry in some ways less challenging than Whitehall and in 1970 took on the harder task of running a nationalised industry when he became Chairman of the London Transport Executive. His five-year term saw him steer London Transport skilfully between the Scylla of the central government's policy of pay restraint and the Charybdis of the Greater London Council which, when under Labour control in 1972, challenged the Conservatives by imposing a fares freeze. He relished the difficulties, tackling the many problems with his customary energy and good humour. During this time he joined the board of BOAC and became chairman of the Economic Development Committee for the machine tool industry.

In 1975 he was persuaded to succeed his old friend Sir John Hackett as Principal of King's College London. Despite being a non- graduate himself, he soon won the respect and affection of the academic staff; and in later years no major event in the Senior Common Room was complete without his being there. He drove through important constitutional and administrative changes and it was his initiatives which have enabled King's to expand from the 3,000 students of his time to the more than 16,000 of today. He was particularly pleased to host visits by the Queen and the Queen Mother to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the college in 1978.

After his final retirement in 1980 he devoted himself to voluntary work. He continued a connection with the London Zoo, serving as Vice-President of the Council; he was a Governor of Cranleigh School and of Roedean School, and chairman of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Near his home in Hampshire he worked on behalf of the Treloar Trust, which helps disabled children, and played the organ in his village church. He was made an honorary Doctor of Science by Loughborough University in 1986.

"Sam" Way was recognised as an outstanding administrator in the widest sense. He brought to all his three careers exceptional qualities of mind. When, in his last years, his health began to fail, he never let it show. He had a straightforward common sense approach to every problem, an enthusiasm for life, a great capacity for friendship and a sympathetic understanding of human nature.

Richard George Kitchener Way, civil servant and university administrator: born London 15 September 1914; Executive Officer, War Office 1933-40, Higher Executive Officer 1940-42, Principal 1942-46, Assistant Secretary 1946-54, Assistant Under-Secretary of State 1954-55, Deputy Under-Secretary of State 1955-57, Permanent Under-Secretary of State 1960-63; CBE 1952; Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Defence 1957-58; CB 1957, KCB 1961; Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Supply 1958-59; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation 1963-66; Chairman, London Transport Executive 1970-74; Principal, King's College London 1975-80; married 1947 Ursula Starr (one son, two daughters); died Menton, France 2 October 1998.