Michael Baatz

We have learned, with sadness, of the death of Michael Baatz who was University Registrar from 1973 to 1983.

Born in Streatham in 1922, Michael Anthony Baatz was a Pilot-instructor at the RAF Central Flying School from 1942 to 1947 and then studied at Oxford where he received an MA in Jurisprudence in 1951. After six years working in industry he switched to higher education, serving as Senior Administrative Assistant at the University of Edinburgh, 1957-1959.

He was Assistant Registrar at the University of Birmingham 1959-1963, Deputy Academic Registrar at the University of London, 1963-1965, Registrar at the University of Bradford 1965-1966 and Academic Registrar at the University of London 1966-1973.

In 1973 Mr Baatz was appointed to the position of Registrar here at Leicester, where he remained until his retirement ten years later. On that occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Maurice Shock, said of him: “The present high standard of the University is in no small measure due to his calm judgement and unflappable capacity for business.” Among his lasting legacies was a rationalisation of the University’s confusing academic dress system which had developed somewhat chaotically since the Royal Charter was granted.

Mr Baatz sat on the Board of the Leicester Theatre Trust, which managed the Haymarket Theatre, between 1974 and 1982, including a period as Chair. He was an active member of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, serving as President during the Lit&Phil’s 150th anniversary year in 1984-85. International service included a consultancy to the University of Cape Town in 1976, and a Commonwealth Fellowship in 1977. From 1983 to 1984 he was a member of the Department of the Environment’s Committee on Social Effects of Mining Subsidence, and during 1984-85 he was Secretary to the Committee for Efficiency Studies in Universities.

After retiring, Mr Baatz moved to Dorset where he passed away on 20 January, aged 100. The University extends our deepest sympathy to his wife Catherine, his children Simon, Nicholas and Caroline, and his grandchildren Ellen, Tom, Alice and Patrick.

The flag on the Fielding Johnson Building will fly at half-mast over the weekend as a mark of respect.