My friend Mick Marchington, who has died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 71, while walking up Kinder Scout in Derbyshire, was emeritus professor of human resource management at the University of Manchester.
He was a committed teacher and prolific scholar, particularly well known, in the UK and overseas, for his research and publications on employee voice and principles of fair work, as well as for his roles with the professional body the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
His dedication to supporting and developing students and junior colleagues, with rigour, humility, and an infectious passion for the subject, ensured that many remember him with great affection. He was well known for setting and meeting strict deadlines; typically, he had completed his latest commission for the CIPD the day before his death.
Mike’s academic qualifications, a first-class degree in chemical engineering, and his masters and PhD in management sciences, were all taken at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (Umist), and most of his career was at Manchester. He was appointed lecturer in human resource management at Umist in 1986, and professor at the University of Manchester in 1995. He had brief spells at the universities of Aston and Sydney and, after retirement in 2011, he had a part-time professorship at Strathclyde and was a visiting professor in Paris. Mick held a wide variety of complementary positions, including editor in chief of the top-ranking international journal Human Resource Management Journal, and chief examiner and chief moderator for standards at the CIPD.
He had a broad range of interests. With a lifelong involvement in sport, he played football into his 50s, and subsequently took up the, for him, more frustrating game of golf. He supported both Derby County and Manchester City football clubs. Travel featured largely in his life – from the hippie trail overland to India in the 1970s, to frequent worldwide work trips, explorations and hikes.
Walking was a constant joy, especially in Derbyshire, where he was born and brought up in Chinley, the only child of Brian, an accountant, and his wife, Joyce (nee Pearson), a housewife (she suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis from her teenage years); he lived much of his adult life in Manchester, New Mills and Whaley Bridge.
Mick had a very happy personal life. He was with his wife, Lorrie (nee Grice), for more than 40 years; they met in 1978 through the Chorlton Labour party and married in 1982. Mick was immensely proud of their two children, Jack and Lucy.
He is survived by Lorrie, his children, and his grandchildren, Noah and Sophie.
