Arthur Gordon Lishman CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, known as Gordon Lishman (born 1947) is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 social activist, writer and former Director General of Age Concern

Age Concern

Age Concern was the banner title used by a number of charitable organisations specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people based chiefly in the four countries of the United Kingdom....

 England.

Career

Lishman graduated in economics and political science from the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 in 1968. Together with Tony Greaves

Tony Greaves, Baron Greaves

Anthony Robert Greaves, Baron Greaves is a UK politician. He is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.Together with Gordon Lishman, Greaves moved the party's famous Community Politics motion...

, Lishman moved the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

's Community Politics

Community politics

Community politics is a movement in British politics to re-engage people with political action on a local level.Most developed amongst the Liberal Democrats but adopted to some extent by the British Greens, other parties, and Independents....

 motion in 1970. In 1980, he co-wrote The Theory and Practice of Community Politics with Bernard Greaves.

Lishman joined Age Concern England in 1974, becoming Director General of the charity in 2000. He left in 2009, having led the charity through to its merger with Help the Aged

Help the Aged

Help the Aged was a United Kingdom based, international charity, founded in 1961 by Cecil Jackson-Cole, to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect. It merged with Age Concern in 2009 to form Age UK.-Organisation and campaigns:...

, to form a new charity, Age UK.

He was awarded an OBE in 1993 and the CBE in the New Year Honours 2006

New Year Honours 2006

The New Year Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 31 December 2005, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2006....

 for services to older people.

Lishman was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire in 2002. In 2007, he was asked by Ivan Lewis

Ivan Lewis

Ivan Lewis is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Bury South since 1997. Lewis served in a variety of junior ministerial positions, including as Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.-Personal life:Lewis was born to a British Jewish...

to chair the Department of Health’s Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board.