After a distinguished career in art education Robert Strand settled in Middleton, Suffolk, to concentrate on painting and wood engraving. During these later years he served as vice-president of Southwold Art Circle, bringing to the role a wealth of experience, gravitas and authority.

In early life he was fortunate in receiving guidance from his father Alister Strand, also a painter, who had been taught when a student at the Royal Academy Schools by such luminaries as Clausen, Whistler and Sargent. When Robert decided to leave school (Christ's Hospital) at the age of 16 there was no parental opposition. Having passed the National Drawing Examination he was accepted at Croydon School of Art where he spent three successful years. In 1941 he passed the examination for
entry to the Royal College of Art but call-up intervened and his RCA place was deferred for five years while he served with distinction as an officer in the Royal West Kent Regiment. He was involved in fierce fighting in Burma, where he was mentioned in despatches for 'care of his men in atrocious conditions'.

When he finally started at the RCA he entered the Painting School, where he found himself among a group who had served in the armed forces and were mostly in their late twenties. Significantly, he was able to spend time in the School of Engraving, where he developed a lifelong passion for wood engraving. A number of teaching posts in art schools followed, and by 1955 he had been appointed deputy principal of Stoke-on- Trent School of Art, having married Molly in 1954. In 1961 there was a return to the south-east to become Principal of Epsom School of Art, a post he held for nine years. This was not an easy time to be an art school principal, as major reforms and general slimming-down were being enforced following the Coldstream report of 1960, but Robert was able to keep Epsom buoyant through these difficult years.

When the Council for National Academic Awards was formed in 1974, Robert Strand was appointed Registrar for Art and Design, playing a major part in the development of degree and postgraduate qualifications in these areas, then a novel concept. He retired in 1982, having been awarded an OBE.

Robert Strand was a founder member of the Suffolk Group and was able to produce a substantial body of work in his years at Middleton. A gracious and friendly man, he was able to bring much good sense and wise counsel to the bodies with which he was involved.

Richard Scott