Vale Richard. My thoughts are with Jenny, his family and many friends. Thanks Richard for all of your varied contributions, which endure. Thanks also to the authors of the sympathetic and detailed tribute for the Society for the Study of Labour History. Although we’d long been acquainted, we got to know each other better only towards the end of his life when was a visiting professor at the Australian Catholic Uni., Melbourne. Then, he also occasionally visited Monash Uni.,Melbourne and we had some enjoyable meals and conversations when I much appreciated his impressive insights including into academia, politics, unions, and improving the world of work, as well as his good sense of humour. He was a fine scholar and internationalist. We miss you Richard! …

I was very sorry to learn of Richard’s death. He was younger than me, so too young. We were both at Warwick, and members of IS, in the early 1970s, and like most members of the Coventry branch he refused to be dragooned into supporting the lurch to creating the SWP. He was a very fine labour historian, and the value of his research endures. …

The short time we have known Richard has been enough to have us appreciate what a gentle man he was, with an endless curiosity and great sense of humour. Richard was an intellectual powerhouse who was passionate about people, places and society and always ready for an exciting conversation whenever we met in the garden. The most powerful impression Richard left us with is that of a man full of life and youthful spirit. One of our first memories of Richard when we moved to The Old Rectory is when he joined our two little boys for a football match in the garden the first time he met them. What a first impression – he became a young boy himself! But maybe our favourite memory of him is when he and Jenny arrived back from one of their many trips abroad with their rucksacks, like two students back from a study tour. What a fantastic couple they were! Richard’s passing has left a gap in our little community in the Rectory and he will be missed dearly by us all but we believe that the best consolation is that Richard had achieved so much in his life and that …

Richard, my Colleague, Mentor, Friend. A Mighty Oak; strength, wisdom, a refuge. A thousand memories of our friendship, and what you have taught me over the years, will sustain me and guide me. Love to Jen, Mark and family.  …

I’ve known Richard since 2007 when I joined Middlesex as a PhD student. He was a great mentor, a brilliant researcher and simply a marvelous person. I will miss him greatly and cherish memories of him. My deepest condolences to his family. …

I first met you when we worked for the WEA. You brought insight and a fierce intellect to all that you did. Behind the tenacity there was always a smile and a glint in your eyes. We shared an  interest in the now defunct discipline of Industrial Relations. When others were quitting the terrain you found new ways of writing and researching and went on to enjoy a distinguished academic career. To me you were always good humoured, modest and welcoming. Like others I find it hard to believe you are no longer with us. I am glad to have known you Richard. …

Richard was a big part of my childhood. Holiday to France with him and Sarah in 1982, weekends when he would go out for a run, pass our house and stop for a cuppa and a chat that often lasted hours, advice and guidance during my A Level Sociology studies, ramblers event when he met Jenny. A lovely gentle caring man with an understanding of the world that only he could explain with such simplicity. We had so many laughs over the years and we have relived them recently with such fond memories of a great man xx hopefully Richard and Derick can reunite in heaven comrades and plan the downfall of this current establishment xx  …

My history with Richard is very much an academic one. It really began following Richard’s appointment as a professor at Middlesex University. I had of course been aware of, and impressed by, his publications prior to this. Yet, as I was to discover, the breadth and depth of Richard’s learnedness and intellectual powers were far more impressive than I had anticipated. Even more annoyingly, I was quickly to discover that these attributes were possessed by a man of warmth and good socialist values who was only too willing to offer his generous support to colleagues, as a fellow academic, a mentor and a research leader. This combination of intellectual learnedness and rigour, and care and support for colleagues has left an indelible mark on a host current and former Middlesex colleagues, as well as the the Business School as a whole. Indeed, it is not going too far to say that Richard’s contribution to younger colleagues has not finished. For the wisdom and insights provided continue to live on in their still developing careers. As to me personally, I will just say thank you Richard for being a good and stimulating colleague whose heart was in the right place. …

Uncle, my deepest condolences to you, Nanny and your brother’s family on his passing. I pray for his soul to rest in peace and he will always be remembered. We tried our best to get Lorna there but the flights were all full. I am so sorry for your loss, let me know if you need absolutely anything. …