THE life of the teacher and theatre director Gerard Gould will be celebrated at a memorial service at the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy next month.

Mr Gould, who died in June aged 89 at St Luke’s Nursing Home, Oxford, is credited with helping shape the teaching of both literature and drama in English schools.

Born Gunter Goldstein, in Breslau, Germany, in 1922, he was the son of Selma and Abraham Goldstein, a successful Jewish textile merchant.

All of his family, except his sister Gerda, perished at the hands of the Nazis in Auschwitz. Mr Gould survived after escaping to England in 1939, where he was taken in by the Pease family. Members of the Fabian Society, the Peases were friends with writers GB Shaw and HG Wells. It was, Mr Gould said later, quite an introduction to English life.

After serving in the Land Army, planting mangel-wurzels on a farm near Watlington, Mr Gould took a teaching job at Rotherfield Secondary Modern School, where he introduced drama classes.

In 1950 Mr Gould, who converted to Catholicism, became head of English and drama at Wheatley Secondary Modern, where he met his wife, Eileen Bottrill. She died about 10 years ago. They did not have children.

Six years later he became head of English and drama at Lord Williams’s School, Thame, where he wrote the first of several books that were used extensively in classrooms.

Under his leadership the school toured Shakespeare plays around Germany and produced several English stage premieres, including the world premiere of Noel Coward’s Post Mortem in 1967.

Many of his pupils, including Martyn Read and Nigel Cooke, went on to successful acting careers. In 1976, Mr Gould became a Senior LEA Adviser until his retirement in 1984, when he became a Foundation Governor of Lord Williams’s until 1995.

Mr Gould acted with The Greys Players, and took Sandhills WI to national festivals. He helped found the Rotherfield Peppard Drama Society, and became chairman of both the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council Drama Committee and the Southern Arts Association.

His 1987 play, Rupert My Son, was a great success for Mayfly Theatre. He also directed many plays for the City of Oxford Theatre Guild, and was a supporter of the Oxford Playhouse , where, as a director of the Young Playhouse Association from 1960-1976, he worked with young actors including Judi Dench, Leo McKern, Felicity Kendal, and Ralph Fiennes.

In 2011 he was given a Mayoral Certificate of Honour for exceptional service to the city.

The memorial will be held at the Catholic Chaplaincy in Rose Place, St Aldate’s, on Sunday, September 4, at 4pm.