Margaret de Rohan
Honorary fellowship
Year conferred: 2005
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Margaret de Rohan moved to Melbourne to raise her three children and became involved with Toastmistress International – a self-motivational organisation, before the family moved to London in 1976. From 1980-1987, Margaret worked at the Australian High Commission. She might still be working there had it not been for the events of 6 March 1987. The ferry 'The Herald of Free Enterprise' capsized and sank – in less than two minutes. 193 people died: two of them were Alison, Margaret's eldest child, and Alison's husband of eighteen months, Francis Gaillard, both former Oxford Polytechnic students.
The next ten years were spent working with the Herald Families Association, set up by survivors and next-of-kin of the disaster. That work continues today as Disaster Action.
In recent years, Margaret has been involved with the Oxford Brookes Family Programme. The programme, of which she is chairperson, builds relationships between families of past and current students. She does this not only in memory of Alison and Francis but also because she strongly believes time spent at university should be a life-enhancing experience.
