Sir Leslie Fielding, pictured with his wife Dr Sally Harvey
Sir Leslie Fielding, 2011
Sir Leslie Fielding, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex from 1987 to 1992, died peacefully on Thursday 4 March after a short illness.
Sir Leslie served as a diplomat for much of his life, entering the UK Foreign Service in 1956. He went on to serve in Tehran, Singapore, Phnom Penh and Paris – introducing ballroom and disco to embassy circles along the way. He also held London-based roles in the Western Organisations Department and in the Planning Staff.
A strong supporter of the EU, he joined the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels in 1973, serving as the EC Ambassador in Tokyo from 1978 to 1982. He returned to Brussels to work as Director General for External Relations at the Commission from 1982 to 1987. For some years he also held positions as non-executive director of IBM (Europe) and a Special Adviser to Panasonic (Europe).