Nora Gutmann died wile crossing the Marylebone Road

Tributes have been paid to a ‘loving grandma’ with a thirst for knowledge who tragically died while crossing the road.

Nora Gutmann, 97, of the Avenue, Brondesbury, was killed after being hit by a lorry in Marylebone Road last week.

Yael Weidmann, a friend of Mrs Gutmann, told the Times: “The fact that she has gone is a horrible thing.

“She was a very wonderful person, and a real intellectual.

“She was so warm and fearless, she cared for people very much and was very active. In many ways she was like a young girl, in her open mindedness and modern attitude towards what goes on in the world.”

Mrs Gutmann grew up in Germany, but was forced to flee her home country in 1937 after the Nazis came to power. As a person with three Jewish grandparents, Mrs Gutmann was banned from working.

In England, she was involved with the Steiner school movement, an educationalist movement to create a more humanist approach to teaching.

The movement stresses the role of imagination in learning and aims to encourage children to develop into free, morally responsible individuals.

This passion for learning stayed with Mrs Gutmann all her life. In her elder years she taught English, a job she continued with until she was 92, and was a student at the University of the Third Age, in Hampstead, where she studied 20th century philosophy and art.

“She was such an inspiring person, and everybody who met her fell in love with her,” Mrs Weidmann added.

Nora Gutmann is survived by her daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren.