Epitaph on my own Friend

An honest man here lies at rest,
As e’er God with his image blest;
The friend of man, the friend of truth,
The friend of age, and guide of youth:
Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,
Few heads with knowledge so inform’d;
If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.

Robert Burns

A friend and colleague, Luke FitzHerbert, died three weeks ago and his wife, Kay, sustained serious injuries. A tragedy. Those who knew him were genuinely rocked by the news. The Robert Burns piece was included in one of the tributes paid to him and it made sense to post it tonight.

Luke was a one-off. He made a room better for being in it. He was charming, generous and challenging when you needed to be pushed a bit. We wrote books with him, trained with him and agitated with him in many conference centres, town halls and seminar rooms throughout the country and beyond, especially London, Liverpool and Hungary. He was good enough to believe in us when we started out and encouraged us to make things happen.

He believed in the power of individuals to change the world for the better. And that made all the difference.

Kay wrote after the accident: As Luke would want I am being as positive as I can and concentrating, not on my loss, but on my rare good fortune in sharing 43 exciting years with such a dazzling man.

Mike’s comment: Guardian Unlimited