Obituaries Allan Dodd
‘Allan was a wonderful man, and we are grateful to have had the pleasure of knowing him. His contribution to Mansfield and the legacy he leaves behind will be long-lasting and impact many students for generations to come.’
Mansfield College Bursar (2011-19) 1954 – 2021
His widow, Vicki, wrote to me in the days immediately after his death about how much Mansfield meant to Allan. As she said, and as was plain to anyone being shown around it by him, the Hands Building was ‘his pride and joy’. She added:
It was a sad moment, at the University’s Encaenia Ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre on 22 September 2021, to hear Allan Dodd’s name read out in the in memoriam list of recently departed senior University figures. Allan’s death, so quickly after his retirement, came far too soon, and our sympathy for his beloved wife Vicki was matched by our own sense of loss. Allan was the Bursar at Mansfield between 2011 and 2019. He had a truly transformative effect on the College’s fabric, finances and fortunes. Pre-Allan Mansfield and post-Allan Mansfield were different places: and the changes he made were all for the better. As our former Principal, Baroness Helena Kennedy says, he was ‘a marvellous Bursar’, her ‘right arm’ with a vital role in the development of Mansfield. His contribution to the College was immense. How hard he worked to take Mansfield forward, and how successful were his efforts! The fruit of his work is all around those of us lucky enough to live and work here. Our lives are immeasurably better than they would have been without him. His achievements were legion: not only the major works of creating new kitchens and atrium space and transforming the College Chapel into a humming Dining Hall as well as a chapel and concert venue; not only the negotiations and project management involved in bringing the Hands Building and Bonavero Institute of Human Rights into being; not only his inspired redesign of the gardens, or overseeing the successful organ appeal, or the restoration of the ‘True Vine’ tapestry in hall; or arranging the installation of a major bronze statue of Eleanor Roosevelt. His contribution to Mansfield
‘He so hoped that getting the all-important extra income from both the Institute and student rooms would give Mansfield a future. He was so excited about that… It was brilliant to watch that bit of land and no money turn, day by day, from a vision to an exciting working environment. I know that he did so much more, all trying to get Mansfield a secure future. I know the extraordinary dedication he put into all he did there.’ was human as well as material. As one senior Fellow said to me: ‘He was a superb Bursar, and so much of the nature and smartness of the fabric of the College, gardens and new buildings, is down to him. But also a very goodhearted and kindly man, and utterly straightforward… [with] an inner honesty – and he could be very funny… He really liked things being taken care of properly and not neglected, and that is the attitude he had about the fabric of the College. He did so much for making the place look loved and cared for, rather than just noble but a bit down at heel.’ Allan did the work of three bursars in many larger and richer colleges. As well as his contribution to our physical environment through his strong project management skills, he used his financial acumen to put Mansfield on a far stronger, more selfconfident footing than ever before, with its head held high. Guy Hands, a major College donor, wrote:
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And so too do his colleagues. Allan moved College closer to a sustainable footing which it had never before enjoyed. If Allan had not done his work as well as he had, Mansfield would not have survived the Covid crisis. It is as simple as that. Allan was also a great contributor to the life of the College. He and Vicki were committed supporters of College music; the restoration of the organ, completed in the summer of 2021, owes a lot to Allan and Vicki’s backing. He was an advocate of Mansfield sport too, and put in place the first dedicated Blues fund to support elite sportswomen and men. He really cared about the needs of students, and ministered College hardship funds discreetly and sensitively to ensure that students were not overcome by worry or forced to leave as a result of financial anxiety. He also sat on the University hardship committee. At heart, Allan was very kind. One former graduate student, who is blind, could not return to his home abroad during his first
