LORD Moser, a former warden of Wadham College, has died aged 92.

A German Jew, his family fled to England in 1936 to escape Hitler’s fascist regime and he went on to become a pillar of the establishment, advising three prime ministers.

He held the top role at Wadham College from 1984 to 1993 and was a pro-vice-chancellor of Oxford University from 1991 to 1993.

At Wadham, the Sir Claus Moser Theatre is named in his honour, and before he left the college he described it as “the happiest of all” his careers.

He was considered a “hands-on” warden and transformed the college’s endowment by exploiting his connections in the world of finance, as well as those he gained during his chairmanship of the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, from 1974 to 1987.

His great passion for music, and talent as a pianist, also enhanced the musical life of the college.

Cliff Davies, an emeritus fellow and archivist at the college, who was Lord Moser’s sub-warden, said: “Colleagues from other colleges would sympathise that Claus was so busy running Covent Garden that I must have a lot to do.

“In fact, I did hardly anything other than attend the odd funeral, since Claus was an extremely hands-on warden; in London on Tuesdays and Thursdays, devoted to the college the rest of the week, including strenuous entertaining at weekends. Above all, it was his capacity with people, a charm which made everybody he talked to feel special.”

Lord Moser was outspoken about higher education issues, famously warning that a lack of funding for schools and colleges in Britain was putting it in danger of becoming one of the least adequately educated advanced nations.

He was a former chairman of the Oxford Playhouse Trust, just one of a wide range of roles he took on in culture and the arts. He had also been on the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music from 1967 to 1979, the BBC Music Advisory Committee from 1971 to 1983 and a trustee of London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1988 to 2000 .

After he came to England from Berlin in 1936 with his parents and brother, he boarded at a Surrey school for four years. At the beginning of the Second World War, he spent three months at an internment camp in Huyton, near Liverpool, as an ‘enemy alien’ before being released.

He went on to study at the London School of Economics, where he earned a degree in 1943 and was honoured as the outstanding student of his year.

Lord Moser joined the RAF as a mechanic and after the war, he rejoined LSE. After two decades there, becoming Professor of Social Statistics in 1961, he became head of the Central Statistical Office, part of the Civil Service, in 1967.

What followed was what he later recalled as “a terrific time at the centre of power, knowing lots of secrets”. He created the Government Statistical Service, of which he became head in 1968.

He stepped down in 1978.

Lord Moser, who became a life peer in 2001, died on September 4.

He is survived by his wife Mary, two daughters and a son.