Obituaries

We are saddened to report the death of the following OPs:

Michael Robin Blackham (1952)

Jean and Nik Blackham write: Michael Robin Blackham (Rob) was born in Cambridge on 1 September 1935. He attended the Milton Road Primary School before becoming a pupil at The Perse, alongside his older brother, David.

Rob did his National Service in the RAF from 1954 to 1956 and from all accounts spent most of his time playing sports including fives, squash, rowing and not surprisingly football. It was during this time that unfortunately a broken ankle interrupted the chance of a trial with his beloved Arsenal Football Club.

After being demobilised, Rob became a sales rep until he decided to set up his own business, named after his wife’s maiden name of Jean Ashley, manufacturing school wear. He succeeded in supplying schools from all over the country.

In 1997 he had the chance to retire and enjoy more golf. Rob was a member of the Gog Magog Golf Club, where he also represented the county, and was a founding member of the Old Persean Golfing Society. He enjoyed many golfing holidays in Scotland with his wife Jean and son Nik.

Unfortunately, Rob was diagnosed with dementia in 2016 but, up until the pandemic, was still able to take his afternoon strolls.

Rob died peacefully on 17 April 2021 at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Peter Francis Charter (1953)

Jennifer Charter writes: Peter was born in 1937 in Bourn. He was the youngest son and had two older sisters. After attending Bourn School, he boarded at The Perse and excelled in athletics, winning many events including the Victor Ludorum in 1951 in 2 minutes 10 seconds. He was Captain of cricket at The Perse and played once he left school for Barrington, Royston, and was Captain for Longstowe and Papworth teams. He was a good batsman and fielder and rarely dropped a catch.

After he left school he joined his father farming Chapman’s Farm, with his main interest in livestock, cattle and pigs. He was also a judge of livestock. He bought for many abattoirs including Swifts, Dawn Meats, Maclaren and Church and Morrisons (Woodheads), where he told John Woodhead about the village being built at Cambourne. This knowledge meant they opened a supermarket there. The Charters grew top quality and high yielding crops and were never frightened of hard work. They employed many in the village picking vegetables and taking them to market in London.

He was married in 1958 to Diana, and together they had three children – Julia, Nicholas and Stephen. Sadly, Stephen died aged 15 years of a virus, and Peter’s marriage was dissolved a few years later. He decided to sell his house and start afresh. The Charters subsequently bought land at Barton, Comberton and Gamlingay (which was purchased from Merton College, Oxford) and made the farm more economical to run. He farmed with his son Nicholas. The machinery got more complex and much larger over the years.

Peter moved to St Ives in 1993 where he met Jennifer and her three children. He still farmed, visited markets, played green and indoor bowls at Chesterton, Newnham, Huntingdon and St Ives, winning cups and trophies. They had many cruises and days away, and spent lockdown going for walks across the fields and relaxing. When he became unwell in early May this year, Jennifer and the family nursed him for his last few days, and he was visited by friends and both families. He obtained a special licence to marry, and died seven days later, aged 83, at at his home of thirty years in St Ives.

Eric Michael Curtis (1959)

Tish Hopkins writes: Eric joined The Perse Preparatory in 1947 and stayed at the School until completion of his A Levels. At The Perse he won the Country Major Award and was promoted to Corporal in the CCF (Army Section).

After leaving The Perse, Eric spent a pre-University year with Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) Ltd in Manchester. He got an Exhibition to Christ’s College, Cambridge where he gained a First-Class Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering. His

first job was with the Central Energy Generating Board (CEGB) Research Laboratory, working with turbines. In 1991 he returned to Cambridge as a Senior Research Associate at the University Engineering Department’s Whittle Laboratory. (He had been made redundant as the CEGB had closed its Marchwood Laboratory). He wrote several papers on turbinerelated aerodynamics and was awarded Best Paper Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for a coauthored paper in 2007. He was honoured by the ASME with the Gas Turbine Award in May 2011 in New York. Eric passed away on 7 May 2021.

Ian Gregory Few (1943)

Roger Few (1946) writes: My brother Ian Gregory Few was born in 1925 in a small, pleasant terraced house in Willingham, where the only sound in the street was the clucking of hens and motor vehicles were hardly known. His parents paid a monthly rent of £1. In 1936 he gained a minor scholarship to The Perse, where he did well on the science side under Wootton and Hawkins.

He had two seasons in the 1st XV, in which he was admired as a wing forward, coached by K. Barry. He also joined the OTC under Storr. Behaviour in those days was sometimes rough, and it was not unknown for Ian to arrive home with a bloody nose. for Girls. In 1956, Brian left the Sixth Form before the end of the academic year to begin his National Service. He served two years in the RAF, achieving the rank of Pilot Officer. Following this, Brian attended Clare College, Cambridge to read engineering. He and Julia were married in the Clare College chapel in 1960. Upon completing his engineering degree, Brian started his career at Bristol Siddley Engines, Ltd in Bristol. In 1963, inspired to further his education, Brian moved his family to Brown University, Rhode Island on a Fulbright Travel Scholarship. Always a hard worker, Brian completed both a Master’s degree and a PhD in aeronautical engineering at Brown in just four years. Before returning to England per the terms of the scholarship, Brian and Julia took the opportunity to take a seven week camping road trip on a shoe-string budget around the continental United States. Brian returned his family to England in 1967 and took a post as a lecturer at the University of Bristol. By the time he left the university in 1979, he had been promoted to the position of Reader.

In 1979, Brian decided on a major career change, leaving academia for industry. He and his family returned to the United States to join Northrop Corporation (later Northrop Grumman Corporation). Loyal to his roots, Brian became a liaison to other Old Perseans in Southern California. Brian left Northrop briefly for a position as Chairman of the Aerospace Engineering

In 1942 he took an engineering cadetship at Nottingham under a government scheme to augment the number of qualified engineers in the country. He gained the first part of his qualification but was then called up for service in the Royal Engineers. This included about a year in Burma (now Myanmar), helping with civil reconstruction following the Japanese occupation. He returned to this country in 1948 and resumed his studies in Nottingham. There, he met and married his wife Peggy, a fellow student who went on to be a teacher.

He joined Rolls Royce at Derby and remained with them as a research engineer for the whole of his career. He and Peggy bought a house in Chellaston, where they remained for the rest of their lives, and where their son and daughter were born and raised. He took early retirement in 1984 and followed his favourite pastimes of supporting Notts Forest, undertaking huge jigsaw puzzles and innumerable crosswords with Peggy, and enthusiastically collecting Raphael Tuck postcards. Peggy died three years ago, and Ian doggedly lived alone, a very brave and resourceful nonagenarian, in their Chellaston house until he was finally caught by the current pandemic. Ian died on 9 February 2021.

Brian Lindsay Hunt (1955)

Julia Hunt writes: Brian was born in 1937 in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire and entered The Perse in 1943, at age six. He enjoyed a well-rounded education by participating in cricket, rugby and field hockey, performing in the Perse Players and, most importantly, developing a strong academic career that culminated in becoming deputy head boy. In 1954, he met his wife Julia Vyse who attended The Perse School

Department at the University of Maryland from 1990–1992. However, the call of industry (and California) was too great and he returned to Northrop for the remainder of his career. He retired in 2000 as Vice President of Engineering and Technology, returning as a consultant for an additional ten years.

During his brief illness, Brian felt honored to be contacted by many former colleagues who saw him as a mentor and shared thoughts and anecdotes that showed their deep respect and affection for him. Brian passed away at age 83 on 31 March, 2021 surrounded by Julia, his wife of 60 years, his son Tony, daughter Andrea and his four grandchildren.

Laurie Peter Marsh (1948)

Tony Porter writes: Born in 1930, Laurie Marsh attended The Perse from 1943 to 1948 as a boarder at Hillel House. As one of the few Jewish boarding houses in the UK at that time, Laurie would later express his gratitude for the educational opportunity this enabled him to have.

Laurie spent two years carrying out his National Service and rose through the ranks to become a Captain. He then went on to have a hugely successful business career, with interests in property, film, and theatre. He made his first million selling plastic mackintoshes, and said it started with his service at Catterick, where he and his fellow recruits were often cold and wet. Plastic was easily available post-war, and the concept took hold immediately. He then did something typically Laurie – he wrote directly to Disney to ask if he could make Mickey Mouse plastic macs for children. Disney not only agreed but insisted on supplying the official design, free of charge.

In 1979 he decided to devote himself to philanthropy. His first project was to help save the Theatre Royal in Bath, which was then threatened with closure. I first met him when he had rescued London’s Shaftesbury Theatre from falling down. He invited me to bring a school party to his first show there. When I protested that he couldn’t possibly mean to entertain 60 boys for nothing, he simply said ‘we’ll fit them in’, and he did.

Laurie’s philanthropy extended to his former school. In June 1971, the Sixth Form Centre he had funded was opened. His most tangible contribution to the School, and at a cost of £100,000, the building still stands. After a period as a library, it is now used as a café, and bears a plaque commemorating Laurie’s gift to The Perse. Laurie said that he wanted to give back to The Perse ‘for the excellent opportunities and quality education it provided for me’.

Laurie published a memoir in 2016, The Philanthropist’s Tale (Urbane Publications), which describes how he came to be a successful entrepreneur and why he chose to become a philanthropist. ‘Accumulating money for its own sake is called greed’, as Laurie says in the book. Until the end of his life, he was involved in projects, including securing the long-term future of The Cinema Museum in Elephant and Castle, London. The Museum lies just round the corner from where Laurie grew up, a premature baby not thought likely to live, whose uncle had to pay for his boarding fees at Hillel House, and who offers us a template for living an unselfish life.

Laurie died, aged 90, on 10 September 2021. He is survived by his wife, Gillian, and his children and grandchildren.

We remember

Michael Rivers (1955) Died 16 June 2020, aged 83 years.

Patrick McLaren (1955) Died 2021, aged 83 years.

Derek S Ashburner (1959) Died 2020, aged 79 years.

James R Bullen (1974) Died December 2020, aged 65 years.

Glenys A Childs (1953) Died 2 March 2021, aged 86 years.

Peter B Frost (1950) Died 7 May 2020, aged 88 years.

George V Griffin (1947) Died 8 March 2021, aged 91 years.

Ian K Humphrey (1961) Died October 2020, aged 78 years.

Geoffrey W Roughton (1947) Died 23 January 2021, aged 91 years.

This list was up-to-date when we went to print. Obituaries may be read in full on Alumnet.