Ruth Deech on:
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''IVF to Immortality: Controversy in the Era of Reproductive Technology''
by Ruth Deech and Anna Smajdor, Oxford University Press, November 2007
Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA)
UK Bar Standards Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deech, Ruth 1943 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Fellows of St Anne's College, Oxford Principals of St Anne's College, Oxford Brandeis University alumni BBC Governors British Jews Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People's peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Crossbench life peers People from Clapham People educated at Christ's Hospital Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Professors of Gresham College Jewish British politicians
Ruth Lynn Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE (''
Deech returned to St Anne's College, Oxford, in 1970 to be a tutorial fellow in Law, a post she retained until 1991 when she was elected principal of the college. She retired in 2004, and was succeeded by
in 2002, the same year that she was made a née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Fraenkel; born 29 April 1943) is a British academic, lawyer, bioethicist
Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...
and politician, most noted for chairing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body that regulates and inspects all clinics in the United ...
(HFEA), from 1994 to 2002, and as the former Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford
St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...
. Deech sits as a Crossbench
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
peer in the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
(2005–) and chaired the Bar Standards Board (2009–2014).
Early life, family and education
Born inClapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history
T ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, Deech is the daughter of a historian and journalist, Josef Fraenkel who was born in 1903 in Ustrzyki Dolne
Ustrzyki Dolne (; yi, Istrik, uk, Устри́ки-Долі́шні, translit=Ustrýky-Dolíshni) is a town in south-eastern Poland, situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999) close to the border with Ukraine. It is the capital of B ...
in south-east Poland. She states that she comes from a "very culturally Jewish family". Her father "was born in Poland and fled, first to Vienna and then Prague, from the Nazis". He arrived in Britain on 3 September 1939, the day the Allies declared war on Germany. Documents show that he travelled first from Poland to Nazi Germany (Vienna, Prague) and arrived in Great Britain on 3 September 1939. Several other members of their family were murdered in Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Her first cousin is Maurice Frankel
Maurice Frankel is director of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information.
He has worked with the Campaign for Freedom of Information since it was set up in 1984, and has been its director since 1987. He previously worked on access to environmen ...
, Director of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information
The Campaign for Freedom of Information is an advocacy group that promotes and defends freedom of information in the UK. It seeks to strengthen the public's rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related laws and opposes attempts to ...
.
She was educated at Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...
school, when the girls part of the school was located in Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...
. She graduated from St Anne's College, Oxford
St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...
with a first in Law in 1965.
Career
Deech returned to St Anne's College, Oxford, in 1970 to be a tutorial fellow in Law, a post she retained until 1991 when she was elected principal of the college. She retired in 2004, and was succeeded by Tim Gardam
Timothy David Gardam (born 14 January 1956), is a British journalist, media executive and educator. He was Director of Television at Channel 4 until 2003, after which he served as Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford until 2016. He now serves ...
. The college named the Ruth Deech Building, which was completed in 2005, after her.
Deech held many other positions during her career; she served as Senior Proctor
Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
* In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...
of the University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
between 1985 and 1986, as a member of the University's Hebdomadal Council of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body that regulates and inspects all clinics in the United ...
from 1994 until 2002, and was appointed to a four-year term as a Governor of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(DBE), in recognition of her work at the HFEA.
After leaving St. Anne's, Deech was appointed the first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education from 2004 to 2008, dealing with the resolution of student complaints at all UK universities.
On 22 July 2005, it was announced by the House of Lords Appointments Commission
The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent advisory non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It has two roles:
*to recommend at least two people a year for appointment as non-party-political life peers who sit on the ...
that she would be made a life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
, sitting as a Crossbencher
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
. On 5 October 2005, she was created Baroness Deech, of Cumnor
Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumn ...
in the County of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, and introduced in the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
on 25 October 2005. She delivered her maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
on 24 November 2005.
In 1999, ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' newspaper named her as the 107th most powerful person in Britain, and in 2001, Deech was placed at no.26 in Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's "The God List", which ranked "the fifty people of faith in Britain who exercise the most power and influence over our lives". In November 2007, Deech published ''IVF to Immortality: Controversy in the Era of Reproductive Technology'', with co-author Anna Smajdor.
Between 2004 and 2008, Deech was Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education and a Professor of Law at Gresham College
Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...
in London, where she gave a series of public lectures on family relationships and the law.
Deech has been a Director of JNF-UK
In December 2016 Deech argued that Jewish students at UK universities were subject to increasing anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. She is a Patron of the activist group UK Lawyers for Israel.
In June 2020, Baroness Deech accused Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...
Robert Jenrick
Robert Edward Jenrick (born 9 January 1982) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Immigration since October 2022. He served as Minister of State for Health from September to October 2022. He served as Secretary of State fo ...
of breaching "the guidance on planning propriety" over his management of a planning application to build a national Holocaust memorial, which she described as controversial.
Returned family property
In 2008, it emerged that Eugeniusz Waniek, a 101-year-old Polish artist and art professor living inKraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, had in his possession a set of silver cutlery which had once belonged to Deech's father's family, the Fraenkels. Waniek had been a Polish Christian neighbour and friend of the Fraenkels in pre-war Ustrzyki Dolne
Ustrzyki Dolne (; yi, Istrik, uk, Устри́ки-Долі́шні, translit=Ustrýky-Dolíshni) is a town in south-eastern Poland, situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999) close to the border with Ukraine. It is the capital of B ...
, a small town near the Polish/Ukrainian border. Deech's grandfather, Moses Fraenkel, owned an oil refinery there had been a long-serving mayor of the town.
Nazi German troops raided Ustrzyki Dolne in September 1942, rounding up the town's large Jewish population. Deech's aunt, Helena Fraenkel, managed to pass a bundle of the silverware to Waniek for safekeeping, risking her life in doing so. Other Jews in the town were shot for refusing to hand over valuables to Nazis. Helena was murdered in the Belzec extermination camp
Belzec (English: or , Polish: ) was a Nazi German extermination camp built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major part of the "Final Solution" which in total ...
. Waniek looked after the silver, at one stage burying it in his garden to hide it from the Nazis, which would have also been punishable by death. He never saw the Fraenkels again.
The story was uncovered by a neighbour of Waniek's, Marek Marko, and historian Professor Norman Davies
Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor at ...
in 2008. When Deech and her British family visited Waniek, he presented to them the silverware (and the tablecloth that bundled it) that he had kept in a drawer for 67 years. He died 8 months later, aged 102.
Deech has criticized Poland regarding its policy for compensation of goods stolen during German occupation. In May 2019, Deech claimed during a House of Lords debate that Poland is “squatting on property of 3 million Shoah
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...
victims” and that it was the "most egregious offender” when it came to returning Nazi loot”.
See also
*House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, Crossbench Peers
References
External links
''IVF to Immortality: Controversy in the Era of Reproductive Technology''
by Ruth Deech and Anna Smajdor, Oxford University Press, November 2007
Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA)
UK Bar Standards Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deech, Ruth 1943 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Fellows of St Anne's College, Oxford Principals of St Anne's College, Oxford Brandeis University alumni BBC Governors British Jews Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People's peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Crossbench life peers People from Clapham People educated at Christ's Hospital Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Professors of Gresham College Jewish British politicians