PEOPLE - BEREAVEMENTS

Audrey Ruth Burton, OBE

Notice | Tribute

The University has learnt with regret of the death of Mrs Audrey Burton, OBE, on 23rd August 2008.

Professor Aubrey Newman, the founding Director of the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies in the University of Leicester, writes:

'When we were originally launching the Centre for Holocaust Studies and seeking funds it was almost inevitable that we should think of approaching the Burton family, whose generosity towards University education had extended over several generations. But Stanley Burton had only recently died and I was reluctant to make an approach at that time. She however contacted me for help in having research done into the history of the Harrogate Jewish community where she lived, and when I discussed what we were doing to promote an understanding of the events of the Holocaust it was Audrey Burton who expressed a desire to secure the funding of the Centre as a memorial to her husband.

'Her interest was not restricted to the initial funding. She was a frequent visitor to the various functions and lectures associated with the Centre, gave a generous donation of a research scholarship for a doctoral student in the Centre, and was always anxious to assist in whatever other way she could in its work. She was very pleased when in 2007 the first of a series of volumes relating to the Holocaust was produced by the Centre and dedicated to her.

'Her generosity was of course not restricted to Leicester, and the University of Leeds in particular received a number of donations, not least in connection with her patronage of the Art Collection and Museum which was renamed the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery. Her charitable works in general and her activities in her own town of Harrogate were fittingly recognised nationally earlier this year when she was awarded an OBE.'

Audrey Ruth Burton, OBE, died 23rd August 2008, aged 84.