Lord Shawcross, one of the University's founding fathers and the longest-serving Chancellor in its history, has died at the age of 101.

Lord (Asa) Briggs, who was the University's Vice-Chancellor during Lord Shawcross' chancellorship, said: "He was a very active Chancellor of the University. He had very much his own mind and rather enjoyed the excitement of the late 1960s here. He said he had known nothing like it since he was an MP in St Helen's. I last saw him at his 100th birthday party, when we had an interesting chat about our memories of Sussex."

Born on 4 February 1902, Hartley Williams Shawcross attended Dulwich College and went on to train as a barrister. He was the chief UK prosecutor at the Nuremberg war trials in 1945. From 1945-58 he served as MP for St Helen's and was Attorney General in the post-war Labour government.

After his departure from politics, Shawcross was made a life peer and appointed to a number of "odd jobs", as he described them in his memoirs. Among other posts he chaired the Medical Research Council from 1961-65.

He bought Friston Place, near Eastbourne, and became one of the figures in the establishment of the University of Sussex, both as a member of Council and a Pro-Chancellor (deputising in his absence for the founding Chancellor, Lord Monckton).

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alasdair Smith, said: "Lord Shawcross was one of the founding fathers of the University who together helped to shape its ground-breaking approach to higher education. In particular, he supported the development of Sir Basil Spence's innovative building designs, which remain such a striking feature of the Sussex campus. We are proud that he was part of the University life for more than 20 years."

In his memoirs, Lord Shawcross recalled: "I was at an early stage appointed chairman of the buildings committee for the whole university, I think on the theory that it would involve one professional man - me - dealing with another professional man, the leading architect. This was not always easy but the redoubtable Basil Spence and I got on well together."

Lord Shawcross was elected Chancellor - the University's most senior officer - at a special meeting of Court in 1965. His formal duties included presiding over graduation ceremonies and the annual meetings of Court. Most importantly, though, he acted as a figurehead, building bridges to the outside world and acting as the University's ambassador.

After retiring in 1985, Lord Shawcross installed Lord March (later the Duke of Richmond and Gordon) as his successor. The current postholder is Lord (Richard) Attenborough, who was elected in 1998.