Ron Fennell MBE
BTS Vice President and former BTS Chair, Ron Fennell, passed away peacefully on
Wednesday 12 th April, attended by family.
He and his wife, the late Liz Fennell MBE, had a great love for Tanzania and were stalwarts
of the Society, including providing substantial support to the work of the Tanzania
Development Trust.
Ron and Liz met while studying geography at Cambridge University and they married in
1956. He worked in Sierra Leone for 12 years until 1966, when he joined the International
Monetary Fund and moved to Washington, DC. He joined the World Bank three years later
and the family lived in Nigeria and Tanzania, before returning to the United States in 1987.
They retired to the UK in 1995, settling in West London.
Thereafter, Ron and Liz were active members of BTS known in particular for their energetic
support to the Society at events and to TDT where they would take long trips to Tanzania to assess and support projects, at their own cost and even to the most remote areas.
Ron and Liz were both made MBEs in the 2013 New Year’s Honours list for services to
building relations between the UK and Tanzania.
A memorial service is planned, in central London. We will share those details once we have
them.
With warm memories and our sympathies to the family,
Paul Harrison
Chair
Britain Tanzania Society
On be half of TUHEDA(Tanzania UK Diaspora Association) please pass our Condolences to their family and BTS
Dr hamza Hassan(Chairman-TUHEDA)
So sad to hear our friend Ron passed away. He and Liz were such committed, caring and unassuming couple who loved Tanzania. When I was President of the Tanzania-UK Business Group they use to attend our social function. May his soul rest in peace.