My father, Geoff Dunn, who has died aged 88, was an artist and art teacher interested in developing the skills of others rather than his own.
He was perversely proud of the fact that, when taking his national diploma in design, he was failed by Henry Moore for a carving and had to sit the whole exam again, despite having passed all the other modules. When he was a student, one of his fabric designs was selected by Lucienne Day for an exhibition of cotton prints in Manchester.
Geoff was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands, to Laura Dunn, an independent-minded woman who was chief cashier at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, and Valentine Whitehead, a travelling salesman from Surrey. Geoff’s education at West Bromwich art school was interrupted in 1942 when he joined the RAF air cadets and was trained as a rear gunner, flying in Lancaster bombers towards the end of the second world war. After he was demobbed, in 1946 he married Betty Bates; they had met aged 15 at art school.
His first teaching post was at a private school for boys in Shepperton, Surrey, where teachers often had to wait for their salary if parents were late in paying the fees. Geoff was glad to move to a teaching post at Sutton Common school for girls – so newly built that it was only noticed at the last minute that a lavatory would have to be hurriedly built for the only two male staff members, Geoff and the caretaker. His final post before his retirement in 1993 was as head of art at Nonsuch high school for girls in Cheam. His students consistently won prizes and commendations.
In retirement Geoff taught adults in Redhill, Surrey. When he was told by the authorities that he had to retire because of his age, his students signed a petition saying that they would all leave unless he was reinstated. He was allowed to stay on, but within a couple of years, he had to quit because of his failing eyesight.
He is survived by Betty, by his two daughters, Marian and me, four grandchildren, James, Laura, Caspar and Andrew, and four great-grandchildren.
