Framlinghamian 2019 - Single Pages 72dpi - Flipbook - Page 165
OBITUARIES
Championships to the College, in those
early years Shirley, assisting by my equally
numerate wife, Madeleine, was a dab hand
at producing full sets of results in record
time – and taking a certain pride in beating
parallel attempts by the College computer
operative to do the same!
recognisable. Nick had both in spades and
was a true jewel of Nottingham paediatrics.
His passing is a loss to all of us.
RICHARD COLIN WARD STOKES
(S41-48)
Richard Colin Ward Stokes (S41-48) passed
in 2019. He was living in West Sussex and
had been a talented member of the OF
Golf Society.
We extend our deepest sympathy to
Shirley’s sons Nigel, (G64-74) and Martin
(G67-77) and daughter Jane (P78-79) and
their respective families.
A fine teacher of enormous intellect, a
devoted family woman – and a good friend
who will be greatly missed.
Bob Williams
Mary Vellacott, Shirley Robinson and Margaret Kennon
Image: The Three Graces’ (Mary Vellacott,
Margaret Kennon, with SAR in the middle
- taken at BH on the occasion of their joint
retirement in July ’96.
PROFESSOR NICK RUT TER (S55-63)
Professor Nick Rutter (S55-63), brother
of John Rutter, passed away on 8th June
2019.
John sent us a copy of this tribute from Sir
Terence Stephenson, consultant paediatric
doctor, Chair of the General Medical
Council and currently Nuffield Professor of
Child Health at University College London.
“A paediatric trainee many years ago said
this to me about Nick, “He is a fantastic
paediatrician. He sings in a Bach choir
and he runs - what’s not to like?” That
succinctly sums up the man. A modest
and incredibly dedicated doctor who did
ground-breaking research on new born
ROBERT JOHN TOOLEY (K44-47)
Nick Rutter
babies’ skin and pain and who also lived
life to the full through his family and his
many outside interests. I can still recall his
excitement at passing grade 8 piano or a
victory by his beloved Nottingham Forest.
I first met Nick in 1986 when I applied
for a lecturer post in the Department of
Child Health in Nottingham. He was an
inspiration then and he remained an
inspiration throughout my professional
career. He was totally committed to
undertaking research which made a
difference to the care of infants and
which reassured families that he was very
concerned about their wellbeing. In the
days before email, he emptied his in-tray by
the end of every day. He competed to see
the most new outpatients in a year!
Nick was ferociously time-efficient and a
very effective leader, whether leading a
clinical firm, overseeing undergraduate
teaching or supervising research. He valued
precision in language, diagnosis and
science. Some of his pearls of wisdom:
“only touch a piece of paper once”;
“children with pneumonia rarely wheeze”;
“research only well-defined patient groups,
not vague populations”; “do one thing at
a time and do it well”. I learned a lot from
him and these are precepts I have followed
to this very day.
Nick was very much a family man and
he and Bev welcomed me as a young
paediatrician to their lovely home in
Radcliffe-on-Trent. When he had achieved
all he wanted in clinical academic
medicine, he retired from a very busy
professional life to spend more time with his
family and took up golf and cycling with the
passion of a much younger person.
Wisdom and charisma are hard to
define but once witnessed, immediately
Robert John Tooley (K44-47) died on 10th
April 2018.
John Tooley spent his whole career at Great
Yarmouth business, J and H Bunn, where
he rose from order runner to Chairman as
it transformed itself throughout the 1970s
and 80s to become one of the country’s
leading fertiliser manufacturers. He soon
became a regular fixture at weekly Corn
Hall markets across Norfolk and Suffolk
buying grains and feedstuffs from farmers
and graziers in the weekly local markets.
In the 1960s fertilisers were subsidised as
the country sought to feed itself before the
grain surpluses of the 1980s and John
Tooley saw the opportunity to grow the
business in a fertiliser market that was
dominated by national companies. He
recognised that, based in Great Yarmouth,
Bunn was in a unique position to import
fertilisers across the short sea crossing from
Holland.
The force of his personality and commercial
acumen put Bunn on a new path that saw
animal feedstuffs left behind and ushered in
a period of rapid growth that saw fertiliser
turnover increase to nearly £200m per year
from 13 UK production facilities employing
over 150 people. During a career of nearly
60 years, including 30 years as chairman,
Bunn introduced many innovations to the
industry, including importing large selfpropelled fertiliser spreaders in the 1970s,
popularising the use of mechanicallyliftable half-tonne bags in the 1980s and
pioneering the development of satelliteguided fertiliser applications in the 1990s
– something that is only now becoming
commonplace today.
John was one of five children of Bob and
Myra, and who lived close to the business
in Southtown Road in Great Yarmouth.
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