My friend Gillian Pascall, who has died aged 79, was a sociology lecturer at Nottingham University. She wrote widely on social policy, including through her books Social Policy: A New Feminist Analysis (1996) and Gender Equality in the Welfare State? (2012).
Jill was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, to Doris (nee Wilkin), a signwriter, and George Gregory, a bank manager. She flourished at Parkstone grammar school in Poole, Dorset, and then at Cheltenham Ladies’ college, before earning a place to study English literature at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
In her second year she met a music student, Robert Pascall, while she was playing the cello and he the harpsichord in Bach’s St John Passion: their long and happy relationship began with him leaving a note on her music stand, and they married in 1969.
After postgraduate work in sociology at the London School of Economics and completing a doctorate at Nottingham, Jill stayed on to become a sociology lecturer there in the early 1970s, remaining in situ for her entire career before retiring as a professor in 2008.
Away from work, music was Jill’s passion and she was an excellent amateur cellist who derived particular delight from playing chamber music. A generous host and a loyal friend, in conversation she had the all-too-rare gift of being a marvellous listener, while never failing to have a response that was memorable, sometimes self-deprecating and usually witty.
Robert, who became a professor of music at Nottingham University, died in 2018. She is survived by their children, Sophie, Hugh and Clara, and grandchildren Esme, Otto and Mali.
