Dr Derek Clifford Nicholls

Dr Derek Nicholls has died aged 84 at his home in Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire. Through his deep involvement in many layers of the life of Cambridge he leaves an extraordinary legacy in and for countless of its people. 

In the University, he was a lecturer in Land Economy and Head of Department there (1978-79), and served on Finance and Buildings Committees, overseeing the genesis of some of its most significant recent developments. In the Colleges, having been an undergraduate and PhD student at St John’s (1958-64) he became a fellow, Senior Tutor and Vice President (1988-92) at Wolfson, also directing the Cambridge International Programme based there, and a fellow and Acting President (2004-5) at Fitzwilliam, and Director of the Cambridge International Land Institute (the Wilson Centre: 1996-2005). These appointments, and his many travels internationally as visiting scholar, lecturer or government advisor, enabled him through many deep and lasting friendships to share a passion for land economy first nurtured as the younger son on a Cornish farm. There are now many more distant tracts of land stewarded in ways influenced by his counsel.

But his academic involvements, though many and varied, accommodated many others. In local politics he served as a County Councilor (1984-93) chairing (among other things) the Police Authority, and stood twice for parliament in the South West Cambridgeshire constituency. He believed not just in teaching policy that would be for the public good, but in making it by long-term, personal involvement in the democratic process.

Throughout such demanding engagements, his family nonetheless knew that he was theirs - first, foremost and always. Marrying his beloved Rosemary, who died in 2001, they raised two children, ran a wonderful home, garden and allotment, and welcomed countless visitors. They loved singing together, anything from duets to oratorio to Light Opera! He was immensely proud of his five grandsons. Each of them knew that their company was more precious to him than anyone’s, and he travelled widely in his last months for precious time with all of them.

Deepest of all his commitments lay one sufficient anchor. Raised in Cornish Methodism, he held God to be the creator of all the earth and its people, which is why the earth and its people were so precious. All he did was in glad and grateful obedience to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Saviour. He served for over 55 years as a Methodist local preacher, making regular Sunday visits to Cambridgeshire chapels to lead and preach and encourage others. He poured countless hours into preparing sermons for congregations of any size, as well as bite-size devotions for his grandsons over zoom during Covid and beyond. 

Always unfailingly grateful for the care of the staff in the Haematology Department at Addenbrooke's Hospital, who tended him so kindly and expertly through over six years with multiple myeloma, he was happy to be at home in Fulbourn for his final days and was ready to leave from there, on 19 September 2023, for a still more lasting rest.

Derek Clifford Nicholls (MA PhD HonRICS FRSA) 

8.4.1938 - 19.9.2023