The Baring Foundation has announced that Tessa Baring CBE, a former trustee and chair of the grantmaker, died at the weekend.
Baring was in her eighties and had been involved with the charity sector for most of her life, holding other roles included as chair of Barnardo’s, a Charity Commissioner, and a founding board member of the National Lottery.
She was a trustee of the Baring Foundation from 1985 and was its chair between 2004 and 2008.
In a tribute on the Baring Foundation’s website, its director David Cutler wrote: “Her impact on the development of the foundation was enormous, sharpening our focus on discrimination and disadvantage, leading work on the independence of the voluntary sector and pioneering new work such as our special initiative on parents with learning difficulties among much else.
“Her knowledge of the voluntary sector was unrivalled but carried with modesty. She was driven by a great sense of social justice but leavened this with her sharp wit and great kindness. Tessa was great fun as well as intellectually brilliant and a campaigner.
He added: “It was a pleasure and a privilege to have known Tessa. She left the world a better place and will be immensely missed.”
She was a patron of St Michael’s Fellowship, a charity which works with disadvantaged families, having been a trustee until 2007.
Its director Sue Pettigrew said: “We have so much to thank her for; she was intimately involved in the growth of St Michael’s from a single project to a number of services, and with the development of a management structure.
"Tessa became involved in St Michael’s in 1974 and finally retired in 2007. During that time mostly as a trustee and chair of the board she negotiated with what was the DfE on the development of ‘special projects’ which led to our partnership with L&Q (London & Quadrant Housing Trust) and the opening of a property in Herne Hill for families.
“She helped in the negotiations to have residential family assessment centres appropriately registered under the Care Standards Act instead of the Registered Homes Act. She successfully supported us with fundraising and she brought to the charity a wider understanding of the voluntary sector and its role because of the various positions she took on outside St Michael’s."
