My father, Pino Chirico, who has died aged 81, taught Italian to generations of students in the east of England, and had a lifelong commitment to a united, peaceful, inclusive Europe.
He was born in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, the son of Domenico Chirico, a station master, and Isabella (nee Pirozzo). He was profoundly affected by his early memories of war, having spent the summer of 1943 sleeping in his grandparents’ olive groves near Rosarno, a small town 30 miles from Reggio, to avoid bombings.
Pino was educated at Tommaso Campanella classical high school. He played tennis, and, while a teenager, became junior champion of south Italy. He wrote weekly articles for the local newspaper, and was active in the church. He recalled with pride being told off by his father for his graffiti: “Long live the Catholic communists.” Later he spent summers at international work camps in Germany.
In 1956 Pino enrolled in the language faculty at Naples University, studying English and German. When his father died in 1959, Pino left his studies to support his mother and sister, and went to work as an interpreter in the state railways, first in Milan and then Messina.
One evening in October 1965, a young teacher and sociology graduate, Margaret Thomas, walked into the information office at Messina station. Had she arrived 12 hours earlier, as planned, Pino would not have been working. As it was, it was love at first sight. Pino and Margaret were married in 1967.
Pino completed his studies in Messina. In 1971 he got a job as a lecturer in Italian at Liverpool University, and also worked as a researcher on Cassell’s English-Italian dictionary. The family lived in Ainsdale, north of Liverpool, and Pino became a loyal fan of Liverpool Football Club.
In 1974 he moved to Peterborough Technical College, later Regional College, staying for almost three decades, as lecturer in Italian and German and multicultural co-ordinator. He developed a nationally validated interpreters’ course, helping non-English speakers in hospital, social services, courts and similar situations. After “retirement” in 2002, he taught Italian at Oakham school in Rutland for 10 years.
Pino remained a committed member of St George’s church, Stamford, and a vocal supporter of the UK’s membership of the European Union. He and Margaret bought a ruined farmhouse in Brittany and spent 30 years of holidays bringing it back to life. In the last three years of his life, he cared for Margaret as she recovered from a stroke.
He is survived by Margaret, by his sons, Paul and me, and his grandchildren, Lola, Sonny, Ashley and Hartley.
