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My mother, Ruth Lesser, who has died aged 95, was held in high regard in the world of aphasia – loss of language – and speech therapy.

She joined the sub-department of speech at the University of Newcastle in the late 1970s, at a time when it was under threat of closure. Ruth took it in hand, becoming senior lecturer in 1982, head of the department of speech in 1983, and in 1991 professor of speech and language pathology. The department became nationally and internationally respected under her leadership, and on retirement in 1995 she was made professor emeritus – continuing academic work for a further decade.

Ruth wrote more than 30 books, including, with Lesley Milroy, Linguistics and Aphasia (1993), as well as dozens of chapters, papers and reviews. She played a major role in academic speech therapy organisations, serving as vice-president of the International Association of Logopaedics and Phoniatrics 1992-95, and in 1987 she was a founder of the British Aphasiology Society. The PALPA assessment she developed in 1992 with colleagues to measure language processing skills in people with aphasia remains in use and exemplifies her drive to make speech therapy an empirical science.

Born in Bradford, Ruth was the third of the four children of Annie (nee Bottomley) and Joseph Hird, both teachers from mining and weaving backgrounds. Her resourcefulness as a 16-year-old pupil at Grange grammar school in the city was demonstrated when sent on a trip to France. She eventually arrived at her intended destination even though her parents, as she liked to tell the tale, had mistakenly put her on a train to Edinburgh.

Rather than taking up the offer of a place at Somerville College, Oxford, which would have meant an extra year at school, Ruth instead chose to study English at University College London. There she met her future husband, David Lesser, a fellow student. She decided that she should help him to achieve as good a degree as possible so that he could support their future family in those days of pay inequality.

They married in 1952 and moved to a smallholding near Nottingham, where David worked for the textile manufacturer Viyella. They went on to have five children, and moved to Felixstowe when David got a job with Fisons. In Suffolk they were active in Liberal party politics, which continued when they relocated to Bristol and then to Newcastle.

Ruth gained a degree in speech therapy at Newcastle University in 1971 and a PhD in psychology in 1976 . She initially worked as speech therapist for the the local health authority, based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, before joining Newcastle University as a lecturer in the school of education in 1978.

From the late 1970s Ruth was limited by rheumatoid arthritis but in retirement continued to enjoy travelling, usually with family members. She joined the local U3A and was active on social media.

David died in 1985. Ruth is survived by her children, Tristram, Giles, Juliet, Tammy and me, 10 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren