Dame Stella Rimington, the first female director of MI5 and the first head of the domestic spy agency to be publicly named, has died aged 90. She died on Sunday night 'surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath', her family said in a statement.
MI5 paid tribute to Rimington, with current chief Ken McCallum 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.'
An accidental spy, Rimington was recruited in the mid-1960s as a typist when her husband was posted to India on diplomatic service. She rose through the ranks to become chief of the Security Service between 1992 and 1996. After her appointment, she was the first MI5 chief to be named, though initially no photograph was supplied.
During her tenure, Rimington oversaw MI5's transition from tackling the Cold War threat to terrorism. She was the first agency chief to give a public lecture to the BBC, and her profile was considered a model for Judi Dench's portrayal of M in James Bond films. After leaving MI5, she wrote a memoir and a series of spy novels.
Born Stella Whitehouse in 1935, she moved from London to Barrow-in-Furness aged four. She married John Rimington in 1963 and they had two daughters, but separated in 1984. The couple never divorced and later became friends, living together during the Covid lockdown.
