On 16th June, 2025, our founder, Irina von Schlippe, sadly passed away. Some of you will have known Irina, and will have your own memories of her. We would like to share our own tributes, and those of our colleagues in Russia whose charitable work owed much to Irina’s energy, imagination and care.
If you would like to donate in memory of Irina, we are collecting in aid of Sunflower’s work with orphanage leavers. Irina helped Sunflower enormously as it established itself and continued to support its life-changing work.
Nicholas Kolarz, Chair of St Gregory’s Foundation
Irina von Schlippe was a larger-than-life character. She combined a big heart with huge amounts of energy.
Irina worked for many years in the Russian section of the BBC World Service. With the changes in Russia during Perestroika, she started going regularly to Russia and spent time in St Petersburg, where she saw the hardship of ordinary people as Russia chaotically moved from the Soviet economic model to a kind of wild capitalism.
As a result, she established St Gregory’s Foundation in London as a means of financing work in Russia to help the most needy. She also built up a unique network of people inside Russia to organise the work there to help people materially, but also established centres to help parents and children psychologically, as well as caring for older people who suffered great hardship at the time.
Her considerable organisational skills were in evidence both in the UK and in Russia: she organised containers of clothes to be sent from the UK to Russia when many people did not have the money to buy clothes for themselves or for their children. She organised the clothes collection in London and the packing into containers with an army of volunteers, but also arranged the distribution of these clothes inside Russia, not only in Saint Petersburg but also as far away as Eastern Siberia.
She was also a brilliant fundraiser, and her enthusiasm for what she was doing communicated itself to the people whom she addressed in schools, businesses, and cultural centres. She worked indefatigably and single-mindedly to develop the organisations she established and made Saint Gregory’s Foundation one of the most important UK charities working with Russia.
In the new geopolitical world following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Irina was a shining example of how the strength of the West could be used to help the people who got left behind during the period of chaotic economic transition in the Russian Federation.
Tania Illingworth, Director
Irina von Schlippe was one of the most impressive people I have ever had the privilege to meet and then serve under her guidance at St Gregory’s Foundation.
Irina was a force of nature with her brilliant brain and education. She was a totally cultured and experienced dynamo when it came to helping the Russians to help themselves in the early 1990s. When Russia was ‘turning the corner’ during its fledgling democracy, it was possible to assist in medical areas where Russia was lacking, for example: impaired hearing for infants, pregnancy care, physiotherapy, psychotherapy and, importantly, life skills for orphans. She wrote a whole skills pamphlet for the young 16-year-olds when they were ousted from institutionalised orphanages into the real world. This helped each teenager to understand budgeting, how to care for themselves, how to complete application forms, how to shop wisely and how to deal with all the household matters we take for granted in our daily lives. She knew how to operate in the new Russian Federation and she knew how to handle the system, extracting the best from the Soviet inheritance. It was impossible to contradict her at meetings because she did, in fact, always know best from first-hand experience!
I first met Irina outside the Russian Orthodox Church in Ennismore Gardens and I was so impressed by her mission that I offered there and then to have a fundraising lunch for SGF. These stand-up, fork lunches for friends became a regular feature in the diary, raising both the profile and funds of St GF. I have served as a Trustee ever since and have valued all the immense good work we’ve achieved in Russia—all for the greater good, for those less fortunate than ourselves. I was lucky to travel regularly to St Petersburg from the mid-1990s, leading cultural tours to this fantastic city. In those days, BA overlooked the amount of luggage we could take, so I always had about eight to ten extra suitcases full of collected second-hand clothes for the very poor in the city. On one occasion, I even took out a ‘forest’ of crutches as there was a basic lack of these in St Petersburg for disabled people. Irina’s inspiration and first-hand knowledge were unique at such a critical turning point in Russia’s 21st-century history.
Jane Jones, Director
Thanks to the inspirational work started by Irina, which has benefitted so many people, my life was changed 18 years ago when I went to Kondopoga on a trip from Chester Cathedral organised by Sarah Dennis, then executive secretary of St Gregory’s. My eyes were opened to the good that ordinary acts of kindness can achieve, even in the face of the most insuperable obstacles. Irina’s work introduced me to Mother Julia and Father Lev in Karelia, who are the most influential people I have ever met. I have gone on to become one of the Directors of St Gregory’s, which carries on Irina’s work and remains faithful to her vision. For many years the link between Chester Cathedral and Kondopoga was the motivational force behind an active and life-enhancing fundraising programme, culminating in a visit to England by Father Lev and some of his team in 2017, to see examples of good practice here. We have had a total of four visits to Russia now, and our friendship across the miles has only been cut short by the current war with Ukraine. I hope that we can continue in the spirit of Irina’s hopes and dreams and continue to support the wonderful people we have met over the years and pray that one day we will meet again.
Kitty Stidworthy, former Director
Irina was a remarkable combination of catalyst and leader. Her innovations in Russia spread out like a series of fans, starting in the mid-nineties with the introduction of physiotherapy, when she took two UK experts with her to St.Petersburg. A brilliant networker, she used her wide-ranging contacts to inspire others, whether specialists in particular fields , or students of Russian on their year abroad who volunteered in summer camps for needy children. Irina was a vivid speaker and could be mesmerising or highly entertaining. She was a devout Orthodox believer.
Sarah Gale, former Executive Secretary, current Freelancer in Online Communication
One of Irina’s greatest gifts was the way she was able to recognise the people in Russia who would be able to make a real and lasting difference in their field. Although some of them were very young when she met them first, she was somehow able to spot and nurture the combination of talent, compassion and steel that was needed to make lasting change. Back in the UK, she was able to galvanise so many to gather the resources needed for work to reach its potential. Whether people had a great deal of money to offer, just a little, or nothing but their time or ideas, she treated everyone as part of a grander project, not merely as donors or volunteers. In Russia too, although she didn’t suffer fools, she treated decision makers, cooks, cleaners and beneficiaries with equal care and attention. She was truly loved by many of our project leaders and beneficiaries for much more than just the financial assistance she was able to bring, and she changed the course of many lives in Russia and in the UK.
Julia Ashmore, Executive Secretary
My acquaintance with Irina was brief – when I joined St Gregory’s in 2015, she had already retired. However, she shared with me her vision for the Foundation’s future. This involved continuing to care for the projects and people we worked with in Russia, being inspired by their efforts, and relying on our dedicated UK donors who believed in Irina’s ideas. This message remains with me throughout my years with the Foundation. At the heart of our work were always those informal bonds of friendship and community that Irina managed to inspire and build, ensuring St Gregory’s long life. Her legacy will certainly live on, and I’ll remember this extraordinary woman with deep gratitude. My deep condolences and heartfelt support for Irina’s family.
Ekaterina Klochkova, Physical Rehabilitation, St Petersburg
It is very sad news.
I would like to add that Irina von Schlippe was able to establish really human relations, so that the projects of support and help were genuine partnerships. It is also essential to say that it was St Gregory’s Foundation which began to develop physiotherapy in Russia.
Please convey my deepest sympathy to her family and to all at the Foundation.
Yulia Dare, Physical Rehabilitation, St Petersburg
Irina von Schlippe was a truly active guide, a conduit for charity and a long-standing link between our funds and all those who supported our beneficiaries in the UK. Her ability to connect people and find ways to support was truly amazing. My deepest sympathy to Irina von schlippe’s family and the St Gregory Foundation.
Natalia Andreeva, Sunflower Centre for parents, St Petersburg
We share your grief over the loss!
For us, Irina von Schlippe was the first person (and it was her personally who introduced us to the Foundation) who supported the development of a young, unknown organisation “Sunflower”. We were then united by a common idea of helping children and parents with a difficult fate, with a history of orphanhood. Irina von Schlippe believed in us, supported us personally and professionally.
She was an amazing person with such a difficult life path, which absorbed many cataclysms of the twentieth century. She was a person of serious spirit and will.
With gratitude and memory, these words to her and her loved ones. Eternal memory!
Valentina Balobanova, Deaf Club, St Petersburg
It is very sad news about a wonderful, kind person, Irina von Schlippe. On behalf of the Early Intervention Institute, I want to express our condolences on the death of an important person, who made a great, invaluable contribution to the work of the Institute and supported families with children with hearing impairments.Through the most difficult years, Irina von Schlippe helped the Institute of Early Intervention a huge amount and supported families raising young children with hearing impairments.
It was back in 2004 that we started the Parents’ Club, which was attended by parents with their little ones. They took part in all the activities with their children, gained practical experience and knowledge of how to help their child learn various skills in the home environment. All the parents knew that we were supported by St Gregory Foundation and by Irina von Schlippe personally. Those short meetings and conversations with Irina helped us, professionals, to be sure that our help was important and useful for parents. We have always remembered and will always remember Irina, who helped us get started in such an important business as supporting families with small children with hearing impairments!
Father Lev, Kondopoga parish, Karelia
The death of Irina von Schlippe is a bitter loss to very many friends including here in Kondopoga. Our parish for many years relied on her help. She was able to mobilise donors with extraordinary energy to support an important social project. She understood how to organise work within a parish community and a summer camp for teenagers, she understood people well and was a reliable friend. The qualities of her character were formed in the difficult circumstances of wartime and being a refugee, which meant that Irina was the most reliable comrade particularly for those finding themselves in the most critical situations. With her lively mind, culture and rich life experience, Irina von Schlippe enriched many who were lucky enough to know her. We will remember Irina with gratitude and respect.
Alexander Troitsky, former colleague, Let’s Help Each Other, St Petersburg
Big hugs to you all. I’m sure that Irina Yanovna is now watching us from the best of places.
