Patrick Wright 1931 - 2020

It is with great sadness that the College has learned of the death of Patrick Wright (1951), Lord Wright of Richmond GCMG, an Honorary Fellow of the College.

Lord Wright was head of the Diplomatic Service from 1986-1991, and a former President of the Merton Society. At Merton he read Classics, graduating in 1955; he also served as JCR President in 1954.

During a long career as a diplomat he served as the UK's Ambassador to Luxembourg, to Syria, and to Saudi Arabia, before becoming Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1986.

He was appointed CMG in 1978, KCMG in 1984, and GCMG in 1989; he was made a Life Peer in 1994, retiring from the House of Lords at the end of last year.