Naomi Ellen Sargant, Baroness McIntosh of Haringey (10 December 1933 – 23 July 2006) was a British television executive and academic specialising in adult education.

Background

The daughter of

Thomas Sargant Thomas Sargant (1905–1988) was a British law reformer who campaigned for the promotion of human rights. Biography Sargant, who was educated at Highgate School, was for much of his life a businessman and politician who became increasingly conce ...

, first secretary of

JUSTICE In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

, and Czech-born philologist Marie Hlouskova, Sargant was born in

Hornsey Hornsey () is a district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood to the west and Alexand ...

, London, on 10 December 1933. She was educated at

Friends School Saffron Walden Friends' School (known as Walden School from 2016–17) was a Quaker private co-educational day and boarding school located in Saffron Walden, Essex, situated approximately 12 miles south of the city of Cambridge, England. The school taught pu ...

, later graduating from

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advanceme ...

with a degree in sociology.

Career

After an early career in market research and consumer interests (she was an associate of

Michael Young Michael Young may refer to: Academics * Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington (1915–2002), British life peer, sociologist and social activist * Michael Young (educationalist), British educational theorist and sociologist * Michael K. Youn ...

on the

National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

) Sargant became a college lecturer in 1967 and joined the new

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1970, for whom (as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs) from 1974 to 1978) she presented the ''Open Forum'' programme on radio and television. Sargant became professor of applied social research in 1978, remaining in the post until leaving the OU in 1981 to join

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as a senior commissioning editor for educational programming on a channel mandated to dedicate 15% of its output to education. She left Channel 4 in 1989 and became an executive member of the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education. NIACE published ''Lifelong Learning: A Brave and Proper Vision Selected writings of Naomi Sargant'' in 2009 and organises an annual memorial lecture in her honour. NIACE director Alan Tuckett described Sargant at the time of her death as ''"among the most distinguished adult educators of the post-war era"''.

Personal life and death

Sargant had been married twice, first to Peter Kelly, from 1954 until their divorce, and secondly to Andrew McIntosh, from 1962 until her death in London from cancer on 23 July 2006. She had three sons: David Andrew Kelly (from her first marriage) and Francis Robert McIntosh and Philip Henry Sargant McIntosh (from her second marriage).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargant, Naomi 1933 births 2006 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English educational theorists Alumni of Bedford College, London Academics of the Open University English television executives Women television executives Deaths from cancer in England McIntosh of Haringey English people of Czech descent Spouses of life peers 20th-century English businesspeople People from Hornsey