Aidan Robson (OW 1979)

(6 September 1960 – 20 September 2020)

“My friend Aidan Robson has died at the age of 60 while out cycling with a group of friends. That he was out on his bike going from London to Brighton is no surprise as he was always active. From a young age he cycled to school every day from the family home in Stanton St John, and would often make the ride both ways more than once to meet up with friends in the evening in north Oxford.

He was super fit as a school boy – an excellent rower and an enthusiastic rugby player. But most of all, in those days, he loved rock climbing. He and Randolph (Taylor) would head off whenever they could for a few days in the Peak District. They took me along a few times, patiently talking me through each move up the rock face while keeping me safely roped from the top. And sport – in those days at least – was always followed by the pub, a lot of beer and, hard as it may be to believe, a great many cigarettes.

At school Aidan was, like most of our friendship group, pretty good a breaking the rules and not getting caught. He was never a swot, but worked just hard enough to get the grades he needed. We sat next to each other in Mr Middleton’s A Level Maths class, and paid enough attention to learn the easy bits of calculus, but both got lost on integration. Later on, he got an MSc in Hypersonic Aerodynamics from Oxford, so I guess that he cracked it in the end.

After school and university, Aidan had a successful professional life and a very happy family life. He put his science degrees to use by joining Reddie and Grose, a firm of patents lawyers in London in 1987, making partner in 1993, and remained there throughout his career. Their website has a lovely obituary describing his contribution to building a very successful company.

As a friend in recent years Aidan was warm, funny and kind. He loved meeting friends over a drink, and always had a stock of bad jokes. He was devoted to his family, and would happily share photos of his most recent holiday – usually skiing, cycling or walking somewhere. The last time I heard from Aidan was on his 60^th birthday in early September when he sent a photo of his London Transport Senior Travelcard on Whatsapp – ‘how did we get to be so old?’

Aidan is survived by his wife Kelly and their two sons, Louis and Miles.”

Obituary by Mark Segal (OW 1979)