Terence Leslie Brian Wade (19 May 1930 – 22 November 2005) was an English linguist who was Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Strathclyde from 1987 to 1995.

After reading German and French at Durham University, he was both a student and instructor in the Joint Services School for Linguists, during which time he studied Russian at Cambridge.

[1] After attending Southend High School for Boys,[6] Wade went on to study German with subsidiary French on a scholarship at University College, Durham,[7] graduating with first-class honours in 1953.

[1] Wade was first taught Russian intensively at the University of Cambridge by Professor Elizabeth Hill,[1] and transferred to the Victoria Barracks, Bodmin in Cornwall.

[6] His style of teaching has been described as similar to a conventional schoolteacher or university don, when compared to the eccentricity of non-British staff members.

[9] Wade met his wife Mary McEwan, then a classics undergraduate at the University of St Andrews, when the two took part in an avant-garde production of Aristophanes' The Clouds – they married in 1958.

[11] The Scotsman describes his leadership as "quiet [and] unassuming but very effective", and "enormously successful in strengthening the image of the department throughout the university".

[2] The Times writes that Wade's knowledge of conflict and other cultures allowed him to "lead the department with sensitivity, and without being corrupted by the power he could command as chairman".