over from Dame Merle Park as Director of the Royal Ballet School. She accepted the post with the proviso that her husband taught the boys at the school. Return to London Gailene Stock moved to The Royal Ballet School in 1999, with her family. She immediately set to work changing the curriculum in order to make the student dancers more employment-ready upon graduation. When she joined, employment rates were around 48% and steadily rose to over 98% during her tenure. She opened the doors to students from all over the world, which angered many of the establishment within the English ballet. Over her 15 years, she oversaw the splendid refurbishments of the school's junior and senior sections, achieving a much-praised move of the Royal Ballet School's senior section from dowdy Chiswick premises to an award-winning conversion next to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and upgrading the younger section's accommodation in White Lodge, Richmond Park. She served twice as the President of the Jury at the Prix de Lausanne (2003 and 2011) and also as a Jury Member for the Young America Grand Prix. Family Gailene married fellow Australian and principal dancer Gary Norman while they were touring North America in 1977. Their daughter Lisa was born in 1978. Honours In 1997, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to ballet. In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 5 June 2013 Stock was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). The insignia was brought to her hospital bed, where she was being treated for cancer. Awards In 1998, Stock became the first Australian representative on the Executive and Artistic Committees of the Royal Academy of Dance, London. In 2013, she received the Governors of The Royal Ballet Gold Medal. Health and death In 2013 Stock was diagnosed with a brain tumour and took leave from The Royal Ballet to receive treatment. She died a year later on 29 April 2014, aged 68. Upon hearing of her death, David McAllister, artistic director of the Australian Ballet, paid tribute to her. "She was a passionate, intelligent and dynamic dancer whose career saw her dance across the globe. Rising from one of the youngest dancers in the company to the rank of ballerina, she danced in all the major classical repertoire (and was) a part of the many important new creations during