Obituary: Norwich University of the Arts' Prof John Last OBE

Professor John Last OBE earned a name for himself as one of the country’s most tireless and astute art advocates – and one who trusted in its potential. 

And he was equally sure that a balanced education of arts and sciences was at the heart of a good society; an idea with Renaissance roots but which he feared had fallen out of political favour.  

These convictions took different forms during his tenure as vice-chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts between 2009 and 2021. 

Prof Last moved to the city in January 2009 as principal of what was then Norwich University College of the Arts. He guided its transition to university status in 2012.  

His arrival sparked an era of expansion and a growing prestige that he actively cultivated and saw student numbers growing by more than a third in five years.  

The rejuvenation of buildings and the acquisition of new property created a new campus for the university and supported the development of an emerging creative quarter in Norwich.  

It also marked the start of an enduring friendship between himself and the first chancellor of the university, the twice Oscar-nominated and Bafta-winning actor Sir John Hurt. 

National awards were won and league table performance improved, leading to a top 10 ranking for teaching excellence by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.  

However, he wanted Norwich to be seen as a creative city and this led to the NUA co-hosting the 2016 British Art Show, the Hayward Gallery’s touring exhibition of four cities - held in Norwich for the first time since the show’s debut in 1979.  

Damien Hirst’s monumental sculpture, Hymn, was installed on a temporary plinth outside the university’s St George’s building by the Wensum River in 2018.  

In 2021, the year of his retirement, Grayson Perry’s large-scale tapestries, The Vanity of Small Differences, were shown in the university's East Gallery.  

Bringing internationally significant art and artists to Norwich was an important part of his story. 

But the other side, he was a direct advocate for the arts through his chairing of the United Kingdom Arts and Design Institutions Association, being a vice-chair of GuildHE, and his board memberships of the Higher Education Academy, The Higher Education Statistics Agency, and the Britten Sinfonia, reflecting his passion for music.  

He championed the creative arts on BBC Radio Four, and authored articles on policy and politics in The Guardian, The Times Higher, The Times Education Supplement, and the Higher Education Policy Institute.  

He was recognised with an OBE for his services to Higher Education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018. 

In addition to his university and sector commitments, he served on the board of a range of Norfolk charities and schools, including the Norwich School, Sapientia Education Trust, and the Forum Trust.  

He was a connoisseur of fine wine, a fiend at table tennis, and a devoted follower of English cricket with a membership of the MCC. 

Richard John Last was born on December 23, 1953, to Frederick Albert Last and Vera Anne Last née Parish in Stanground, near Peterborough.  

He read English at the University of Sussex in 1975, took a PGCE at Huddersfield Polytechnic in 1977, and gained an MA in Film Theory from the University of Sussex in 1984.  

He began his teaching career at Croydon College in 1977. 

Before his appointment at Norwich, he was deputy principal at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. 

He married Frederique van Till on May 31, 2019, at Norwich Cathedral, and also leaves behind his daughter Kate, son-in-law Samuel, and grandson Tom. 

Prof Last died at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on Wednesday, August 9. 

A funeral will be held at Norwich Cathedral Church of the Holy Undivided Trinity on Friday, August 25 at 2pm.