Jennie Lee; Widow of Britain’s Aneurin Bevan

Jennie Lee, 85, Britain’s first arts minister and the widow of Labor Party politician Aneurin Bevan. Lee served as arts minister from 1965 to 1970. In that post she had a leading role in establishing the Open University, which offered higher education through evening classes, radio and television and correspondence to thousands who had never been to college. Lee received a life peerage as Baroness Lee of Asheridge with a seat in the House of Lords after losing her House of Commons seat in the 1970 general election. In 1972 she promoted legislation allowing theaters to open on Sundays. In London on Wednesday.