When the first cuts began to hit Britain’s universities, Dr Bill Black was Treasurer and later Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hull.

During those years he saw at first hand how benefactors could help the University in many different ways – and with the benefit of that insight Dr Black has now become a benefactor himself by donating £20,000 to help establish a piano masterclass and recital in memory of his late wife, Grace.

‘After my wife Grace died in September 2000 I began to think about offering the University a benefaction for a memorial to her. I felt that a Grace Black piano masterclass and recital would be good for the students, and that would please my wife and raise the profile of the University’, he said.

Dr Black began his work with the University in the early 1970s as Chairman of the Careers and Appointments Board. He was Treasurer from 1980 to 1994 and Pro-Chancellor from 1994 to 2000. Born in Motherwell, he came to Hull in 1965 to join the Fenner Group and subsequently became a main board director. His first association with the University was in 1965 when he visited to solve a problem which had arisen in connection with the wording of a benefaction made to the University by the Fenner Group.