My brother Peter Driscoll, who has died aged 71 of pancreatitis and cancer, was a sociable man with a large circle of friends. He was also deeply passionate about music and sailing.
He was committed to public service, which included being chair of governors at his children’s school in Liphook, Hampshire, and the presiding officer for elections and chair of the National Association of Data Protection Officers, the professional body for those who work in information governance, as he did.
Pete, who was two years younger than me, was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex; a few years later our family moved to Barnet, Middlesex (now in the London borough of Barnet). Our mother, Betty (nee Williams), had been a wartime Naafi manageress when she met our father, Jim, a civil servant who encouraged his children to go into public service. Betty went to work for the Electricity Board when we were older and at one point the entire family was working for the government.
Pete was a good mathematician at Queen Elizabeth’s grammar school for boys in Barnet, so he began his working life in the finance department of the National Coal Board. At the NCB, he met Jeanette Egan; they married in 1969 and set up home in Earlsfield, south-west London.
After working in accounts for a window manufacturer, and then for Britten-Norman, a light aircraft company, on the Isle of Wight, Pete joined the Greater London council, by now commuting from Liphook. In the 1980s, with the writing on the wall for the GLC, Pete moved into information governance for Waverley borough council in Surrey. Later he trained staff in this field for the NHS and the Ambulance Service.
Pete had first learned to sail at school and he and Jeanette bought their first boat in the 70s, mooring it on the south coast in Portsmouth. When they retired four years ago, they moved back to the Isle of Wight to a house overlooking a marina. They had several different boats, sailing to the Channel Islands and France.
Pete always had music playing – his tastes ranged from classical to pop. He had a special love of Bob Dylan and aspired to be a guitarist. A very positive person, he never complained when he became ill and was grateful to the staff at St Mary’s hospital, Newport, for their care.
Pete is survived by Jeanette, their children, Elizabeth and Neil, and four grandchildren, Phoebe, Tom, Rebecca and Lucy, and by me.