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| It
is with great sadness that we report the
death of John Parkinson following a short
illness. John's funeral will take place
in Prescot, Merseyside, on March 4. His
family have asked that any donations in
John's memory should be payable to Cancer
Research UK, or to the St Helens Multiple
Sclerosis Society. Any such donations
should be sent to Mr Geoff Almond, 9
Padstow Drive, Windle, St Helens,
Merseyside. Letters of condolence should
be directed to John's mother, Mrs Joyce
Parkinson at 38 Egerton Road, Prescot,
Merseyside. John Parkinson
studied law at Oxford. Before coming to
Bristol he qualified as a solicitor, and
practised for a short time with
Freshfields in London. He was appointed
Professor of Law at Bristol in 1995. He
was a member of the DTI's Company Law
Review Steering Group that undertook a
fundamental review of company law and
reported in 2001. He was a member of a
DTI working group devising guidance on
the concept of materiality in relation to
the Operating & Financial Review. [From The Bristol
School of Law Prospectus Website]
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| [Photo
from 1970 provided by Paul
Gerrard] |
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| My
wife Jane and I were deeply shocked to
hear of the sudden death of our good
friend John Parkinson. John and I met at
Oliver Lyme Road in 1959 and became firm
friends through Infant, Primary Schools,
and PGS. He, Andrew Griffiths, David (M)
Evans and I went to Chester Law School
after University. John then joined a top
firm of London solicitors but left to
take up a life in university teaching. John was an
eminent, well respected, company lawyer
and his elevation to Professor of Law at
Bristol was well deserved. He dedicated
his life to the Law, the University and
to his students and their welfare.
John
enjoyed life and we remained firm friends
throughout. We met up with him regularly
and shared familiar stories about the
'old days'. We spoke often of Andrew
Griffiths, David Evans, Stuart Duncan,
'Johns' Rigby, Mercer, Moses, and Dean
(aka Agostini), Ade Caesar, Ronnie
Padmore, and teachers such as Wild Bill
Rimmer, Neil Charnley, 'Bugsy' Burrows,
and 'Charlie' Middlehurst. John always
loved Prescot and PGS. His mother, sister
and brother-in-law still live locally.
My
family and I will miss John. He has left
a hole in all our hearts. Our deepest
condolences are sent to his family. [Kevin Gorman]
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| I
am greatly shocked and saddened by the
death of John. A light has been
extinguished... [Pete Griffiths] |
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I
started school with John Parkinson at
Oliver Lyme Road infants school (3 years
from 1958) then Maryville Road Primary (4
years) then on of course to PGS. John
lived in Thomas Drive, Prescot, which
most locals would know is down on the
High Hill estate off Cross Lane. His
house was right outside the number 96/97X
bus stop, I lived initially in Coronation
Drive, then later Cross Lane, so we
caught the same bus on many occasions. He
and I were both stamp collectors,
although John's collection was far better
than mine, and I went round to his house
on quite a few occasions.
A quiet, studious lad, John was not much
into sport, so our school lives crossed
rarely. I recall that his father died in,
I think, 1964, and we held a collection
of sorts amongst his classmates and
bought him a model car, Corgi or Dinky.In those primary
school years, John was your basic middle
of the road student, not much to indicate
his later prowess at PGS. I spent four
years at or near the top of the class,
but John seemed to leap past me at
grammar school as did a few others!
I recall John being hauled out in front
of class to solve some Maths problem and
having his head banged on the blackboard
by the then headmaster Mr Allison and
sending the teacher Mrs Hodgson into
floods of tears.
He and I
and Kevin Gorman were made prefects in
the final year, Kev being head boy. I
have the photo somewhere, I'll dig it out
and post it on site.
If I
remember correctly, after the first year
at PGS, when we took classes in forms, we
were streamed into sets, 1 to 4. I
believe John made Set 1 in everything but
Maths, but went on to be the first boy to
be offered a scholarship at Brasenose
College somebody please correct me
if I'm wrong!
Over the
last few years, I have made contact with
many former PGS pupils, including quite a
few from our Maryville Primary days. John
and I swapped emails in July 2001, and
while he still had all the albums, he was
no longer a stamp collector a case
of "philately will get you
nowhere"!
It's
always a shock when one of your
comtemporaries passes away, especially at
such a young age, John would have been
either 48 or close to 49. Alan Okell,
also from that era, passed away over ten
years ago. From our primary school days,
I know that former PGS pupils Geoff
Sumner, Chris Trimnell, George &
Gordon Stirling, Dave Allanson, Kevin
Gorman, Dave Lawrenson, Peter Griffiths,
Stephen Birchall and others I just don't
recall at the moment will be stunned to
hear this news, and we would all like to
pass on our regards to John's family. [Paul Gerrard]
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| I
am saddened by the news of the premature
death of John Parkinson. I knew John from
his primary school days at Maryville
Road, and throughout his PGS schooling. I
too remember his father dying when John
was very young. We lost touch after our
school days, but thanks to the
Prescotian, I shared an e-mail
conversation with John several months
ago. He was very appreciative of the
contact. I remember John had an older
sister. I would like to re-iterate the
comments of Paul Gerrard who has kindly
included several of Johns former 'peer'
group in his memories of John. My
sympathies to his family and friends. (If
anyone gets any further details of his
death could they e-mail me - thanks) [Geoff Sumner] |
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I
came to know John well at PGS before I
left in 1971, but our paths later crossed
again in Oxford and London. We were
trainee solicitors (or "articled
clerks" in those days) in the late
1970's and shared a flat with some
others, overlooking Harringay Dog
Stadium. John did not take to life in a
City firm of solicitors. Soon after
qualifying, he left London for Bristol
University and became a Professor there
in 1995.
He took A levels in English, History and
Economics and studied these subjects
under such PGS legends as Charlie
Middlehurst, Howard Thomas, Alfie Baxter,
Mike Harvey, Ray Elmer and Brian Grice.
He was also an editor of the Prescotian.
He obtained straight A's in his A levels
at a time when that was rare. He won an
open scholarship to Oxford and graduated
with first class honours in 1976. Despite
having to sit the final exams in the
traditional academic dress in the
heatwave of that year, he won the prize
for having the best results in the whole
year.
He became one of the UK's leading experts
on Company Law and was the leading
"alternative" Company Lawyer.
In 1995, Oxford University Press
published his book on Corporate Social
Responsibility, which was a pioneering
and widely-acclaimed work. He advocated a
"stakeholder-oriented" approach
to Company Law and capitalism long before
these ideas became fashionable.His work
was inspired in part by his concern at
the fate of BICC and there was an old
photograph of the factory in its heyday
on the cover of the paperback edition.
His book was a great success and won a
national prize.
His reputation as a Company Lawyer was
second to none and this led to his
involvement in the DTI's "Company
Law Review" Reform programme. He
balanced his own idealism with a keen
practical sense of what could be achieved
in reality (and under the present
Government). The Review's recommendations
(which the Government has largely
accepted, though not yet implemented)and
the proposals for the Operating &
Financial Review for public companies
(which he was working on before his
death) have taken Company Law reform much
further forward than many thought
possible.
He was a popular lecturer and an
excellent public speaker. His lectures
were noted for their clarity, good humour
and a well-deployed sarcastic wit, which
perhaps reflected a good PGS tradition.
He had been due to give a keynote lecture
at a major conference in Australia this
month
His untimely death has come as a great
shock. He was admired and will be greatly
missed by many. A leading law publisher
in Oxford has remarked that it is a great
loss not just for Company Law, but for
the Law in general. [Andrew
Griffiths] |
|
"Parky"
was in my year at school and I still have
a clear mental picture of the quiet lad
with the rye sense of humour. Strangely,
John Dean and I were only recently
talking about Parky, a lad that John
described as being a "natural
lawyer". His career to date seems to
bear testimony to this description.
Any recollections and stories would, I'm
sure, be warmly welcomed. For now,
though, I'm just very saddened by the
awful news of his premature death. [Ken Holt] |
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| I
too remember John,as a very dedicated
academic,totally focused on his
aspiration to become a solicitor. I last
met him in the Ship in Rainhill when he
was up from London. He mentioned that the
law firm that he was working for dealt
with the Beatles legal business. Sad news
indeed. [Steve Chapman] |
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| "Parky"
was in our House (Lambda) and I remember
him as a quiet, studious lad who was
always destined for academic success. I
recall he was most friendly with the
"two Jeffs" (Mullins and
Oakes). Sad news and a powerful reminder
of one's mortality! [Loz] |
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| This
is very sad news indeed. I had not spoken
to John for a good few years now but he
is rightly remembered as a studious, good
natured chap with a dry sense of humour.
He certainly scaled the academic and
professional heights and was obviously
very well respected by everybody. My
abiding memory of him is that John, John
Moses and I all visited Germany (1972) to
study the architecture of the Rhinelands.
We did very little of this, at least I
didn't, and John wrote it all up for
Weekesy afterwards. [John Dean] |
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