Frank Pignatelli

Born: December 22, 1946

Died: June 27, 2024

FEW can claim to have run Western Europe's biggest education authority, stood up for the put-upon apostrophe and earned their badge as deputy sheriff of Bud Neill's Calton Creek.

In fact, none other than Frank Pignatelli, who has died aged 77, could in an outstanding career that straddled the worlds of learning, business and the wider public sector. Such was his impact that more than 10,000 unique views and comments were posted on LinkedIn after his daughter, Angela, announced his death on the social media platform.

He was variously described as an educational titan, an advocate of the underdog, inspirational and a major player in learning who was on the side of progress to make life better for ordinary people.

He was a passionate believer in, and dedicated advocate of, the power of education to transform lives. He was born in Anderston, Glasgow and, after leaving school, he became a bus conductor in the city (he proudly retained his conductor's badge: MM 86827). He went to evening classes to secure the qualifications for university and, after graduating from Glasgow University and qualifying as a teacher, he taught French, Italian and religious education at the city's St Mungo's Academy.

Frank with Nelson MandelaFrank with Nelson Mandela (Image: free)

Professor Pignatelli became an education officer and rose to the role of Director of Education at Strathclyde Region, the largest education authority in Western Europe.

After the regions were abolished by the Conservative Government in 1996, he moved to the private sector as group director of human resources and main board director at Associated Newspapers in London. Having left that position, he took on various consultancy and advisory roles in higher education, the Scottish Parliament and with governments abroad.

He played a pivotal role in the establishment of Learndirect, the leading online course provider. He was a pro-bono adviser and mediator to individuals and across many organisations. He wrote two modern languages textbooks and, after retiring in 2006, he and his wife Rosetta, whom he had met when they were school pupils, moved to Apremont in France, where the couple spent 11 happy years. They were utterly dedicated to each other.

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Mr Pignatelli, who was made a CBE for services to education, was a stickler for accuracy, which helps explain his appointment as Scottish chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2000 (a body since disbanded). Another honour he took delight in receiving was as Deputy Sheriff of Calton Creek (1992). He took great pleasure in the work of the cartoonist Bud Neill.

My former colleague, Tom Shields, successfully organised a fundraiser in the Herald diary for a statue to be erected in Woodlands Road of Neill's Lobey Dosser and Rank Badjin astride two-legged El Fideldo. I covered education for The Herald at the time and I recall Rosetta calling to ask if I could quietly source one of the bronze maquettes that were made for the statue.

She was delighted when I was able to do so. Her husband was even more thrilled when he was given the maquette as a surprise birthday present by his wife.

Mr Pignatelli was professor of management education and human resource management and visiting professor of education, both at Glasgow University. He was so taken by the distinctive chairs made by Tim Stead for Cafe Gandolfi in the city that he asked the designer to make him one, which he did, prompting Tom Shields to write in the diary that the professor had taken the notion of being given a chair one step further.

After “a phenomenal post-retirement life” in France (in the words of son Paul), the couple moved back to the West End of Glasgow.

In his tribute at Mr Pignatelli's funeral, Paul said his father had faced his illness head on. Aside from hospital visits, there were daily and nightly conversations with him on anything and everything.

Frank with Princess Diana

Topics included a request to make sure the blue and orange bins were put out and the forthcoming American presidential election: “was Trump still a loony?”. Also, was Nigel Farage still getting strange airtime on the telly during the General Election?

Paul said his father's personal life had been even more successful that his professional one. He and Rosetta took great pride in their children's achievements.

“Our dad both lived well and died well. We must be happy with that,” Paul said.

In her eulogy, daughter Angela, Vice Principal of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience at South Lanarkshire College, described her father as “a decent man of integrity and kindness, an inspiration, visionary, knowledgeable, kind, warm and a bit challenging too.”

She continued: “To us, he's babbo Franco. The dad who taught us to think big, that we can do anything and that the world is tiny so go and explore it.”

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She recalled him deciding on a whim on a Saturday morning during the school holidays that the family would drive to France and Italy that day. As youngsters, she and Paul would have “speak only French” days and attend Anniesland College aged six and nine to learn Italian.

Then there was the promise that whomever could learn the Greek alphabet first would win a five-pound note. “To this day we can both still recite it but we never saw that fiver,” she laughed.

Paul, a partner in a law firm, concluded his eulogy by recalling that his father had leant him a phrase that had become his notary public motto for more than 30 years: “Pro viribus contende inde cantitans abi.”

Do your best then whistle.

Mr Pignatelli is survived by his wife Rosetta, son Paul, daughter Angela and their families.