Stephen Thomas was a remarkable man. Indeed, now that the risk of embarrassing him has passed, I would argue a great man. In the course of a little less than 52 years he achieved, in each of many areas, much more than most people ever dream of achieving in their lives. Academically, in business, as a mountaineer and explorer, as a sailor, a quiet philanthropist, a friend to many and, most importantly, with his family.
At the centre of his life was his family, initially as a child walking and camping for weeks at a time with his sister and parents gaining a lifelong love of seas and mountains. Then as husband to Catherine for almost 30 years and father to James for 12 years as well as uncle to Julia and Malcolm's 6 children. His safe harbour, permanent support and his most important objective was his happy marriage to Catherine and then the upbringing of their son, James. Although he worked enormously hard and travelled a great deal when building a company, spending less time with his family than he and they would have liked, he then used the time between business projects to spend years with Catherine and James giving them his undivided attention and having many wonderful trips and adventures together. Steve once said to my wife that he was very lucky to have Catherine, that he could not have achieved what he did without her support. The stability, security and happiness of Stephen's family life over such a long period is something that many of us can envy.
Stephen was an adventurous sailor as Bob Bradfield will discuss in a moment. He was highly regarded by the sailing community for his excellent seamanship.
Stephen had climbed many mountains, from the more modest ones in the UK to much larger peaks such as Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and the Matterhorn, the beautiful steep mountain in Switzerland. At the age of nearly 50 he also got to within about 200ft of the summit of Aconcagua in Southern Argentina, which at 22,834ft is the highest peak in the Western hemisphere. Aconcagua is a steep and very difficult mountain. Having climbed with Steve I know that he was a serious and determined mountaineer.
But it is in business, where Stephen's success is most widely known. It is also the area in which his achievements were most remarkable in many ways. He was a major part of the driving force behind 3 outstandingly successful businesses. In all 3 cases he started when the businesses were small and grew them quickly and effectively. These three were his only ventures into business management, he had no failures.
Those of us in business will know how very hard it is to build a business quickly and to have done so to such a high value is an outstanding achievement. To have done this 3 times, with no failures, is a feat which I have not seen equalled anywhere.
This success was driven by many talents - including huge drive and competitiveness. The competitiveness was normally very professionally concealed but occasionally broke through disconcertingly at unexpected moments. I remember a pub bar billiards competition in 1983 where as my opponent picked up the cue his affable smile was replaced by an unfamiliar expression of steely determination. In those days I played quite a lot of bar billiards and wasn't that bad at it. Steve almost never played - but he still beat me.
Of course, Stephen was a natural leader. Always quietly spoken and calm, even under great pressure, he was someone that those around him knew they could rely on. He was almost always several steps ahead of everyone else. He often called meetings to help us to talk ourselves into the conclusion he had already reached. We, however, always left the meeting feeling we had made a real contribution to an excellent decision.
Steve was a wonderful coach. Everyone who worked with him or for him was improved by the experience, by his gentle encouragement and thoughtful criticism, but most of all by his example. Another of the many mechanisms of Steve's success was the way that the people around him performed well above their previous levels.
But, more unusual is how Steve achieved all this. It is a widespread perception that in order to be successful in business it is necessary to be focused, hard working, driven, ruthless, tough and at times uncaring or even dishonest. To get to the top, it is said, it is inevitable that you will make enemies.
Stephen proved that although you do need to be focused, hard working and driven it is not necessary to be ruthless or uncaring, let alone dishonest. Stephen was universally liked, trusted and respected, a view which was strengthened rather than eroded by knowing him for a long period. While the respect and trust came from his high moral and ethical standards, the liking came significantly from the way he always looked for the kind solution in any problem involving people. Stephen never made enemies.
At work, when faced with someone who was not performing Steve would have a clear and unemotional view of the nature of the problem and whether that person was ever likely to be up to their job. He would then spend more of his own time than he could comfortably afford to provide support and coaching, or even to re-arrange the rest of the organization to create a job they could do well. I know many people who left his office in tears of gratitude at having a job at which they knew they were failing changed into one in which they believed they could be a success. Rarely did they understand the amount of thought and the scale of the effort involved in making the required changes.
This kindness and thoughtfulness extended into every other aspect of his life. From the care and imagination in the presents he gave, to philanthropy so quiet that almost no-one knew about it.
And through all this his sense of humour and fun shone through, even at times of near crisis. His laugh rang out across the building, or boat, frequently and became a hallmark. I can hear it now at the thought that, having finally disposed of the last vestiges of my disguise as a serious businessman, I had to go and buy a suit to go to his funeral.
James has called his Dad the man he admires most, a view many of us share. Steve's death is a great loss to many people who knew him and to many who did not but who benefited considerably from what he did.
We have all been badly shaken by Stephen's untimely death. I have lost a close friend and mentor on many of life's more difficult problems. Worse, the loss to me is nothing compared to the loss suffered by Stephen's family.
But the severity of the shock is because of the greatness of what he did in the last 51 years and the great good effect that he had on many individual people and the world in general. It is this idea on which I am trying to focus my thoughts.
Although there is great sadness, and grief, at his untimely death this is just one dreadful event that marks the end of a wonderful life. Stephen changed many people's lives for the better and created a great deal that is good. He even died after another triumph and while doing something he loved, a quick exit at the peak of his achievements. Taking everything into account Stephen's life was a great success.
So be positive, and grateful - this gathering is a celebration. We were all lucky enough to know an amazing man and I count myself very lucky indeed to have been with him on a few of his great adventures through life.
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