In 1985 the work research unit of the Department of Employment was disbanded and my father, Geoff White, stepped down after five years as director. A colleague wrote: “It is not often that one person can make a national and international contribution to such a worthy cause; the quality of working life in the UK will always be linked with the name of Geoff White.”
Geoff, who has died aged 93, was an occupational psychologist, elected a fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1979. He contributed to various publications on organisational change, the quality of working life and work design, and advised organisations including the Greater London council, the Post Office and the Open University through significant change.
He was born in Taunton, to Irene (nee Giddings) and Arthur White. His rural upbringing in Somerset and love of the natural environment had a lasting influence in his life. He was awarded scholarships to Taunton school and then to Wadham College, Oxford, to read philosophy, politics and economics. In Oxford he met Hilary Truman, a trainee teacher from Watnall, Nottinghamshire. A cutting he kept from the Oxford University News from 1948 mentions “White was rarely to be seen in Oxford at the weekends” with “!!!??” annotated by Hilary. In 1950 he gained an MA in PPE and married Hilary.
Geoff completed a postgraduate diploma in vocational guidance and occupational psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, and joined the Ministry of Labour. He and Hilary settled in Warlingham, Surrey, and had two sons, my brother, Andrew, and me. Following a period of advisory work in Malaysia in the 1970s, Geoff became technical adviser to a United Nations development programme in Malawi, establishing vocational rehabilitation programmes for disabled people and the prison population (1979-81).
Even after his retirement, and as late as his 80s, he continued advising in the field of quality of life, helping a local association set up a memory and dementia clinic.
Geoff was a very knowledgable naturalist and gardener. He conducted wildlife surveys for the RSPB, Sussex Ornithological Society and the Woodland Trust, and organised itineraries for the local walking club. Never imposing, he was a master of observation and reasoning, a careful user of words, and an empathetic listener who provided measured advice to many a friend and neighbour, if requested.
Andrew died in 2002, and Hilary in 2014. Geoff is survived by me and by four grandchildren, Andrea, Nicholas, Tristan and Hugo.
