Dame Stella Rimington, the first female director general of MI5 and the first head of the domestic spy agency to be publicly named, has died at the age of 90. She passed away on Sunday night, her family said, “surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath.”
MI5’s current chief, Ken McCallum, paid tribute, calling her “the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world” and praising her for breaking “through longstanding barriers.” He added: “A visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership.”
Rimington joined MI5 in the mid-1960s as a typist after her husband was posted to India. She rose through the ranks, serving as director general from 1992 to 1996. During her tenure, she oversaw the agency’s shift from Cold War threats to counter-terrorism and became the first MI5 chief to give a public lecture. Her profile was such that she was considered a model for Judi Dench’s portrayal of M in James Bond films.
After leaving MI5, Rimington wrote a memoir, Open Secret, and a series of spy novels. She was also involved in debriefing Oleg Gordievsky, the British agent extracted from the Soviet Union. Rimington is survived by her two daughters.
