May 10, 2013, by Fraser
Dr Ron Haylock 1944 – 2013
One of The University of Nottingham’s closest friends and supporters, Dr Ron Haylock, has died aged 68.
An alumnus and a major benefactor to the University, Dr Haylock enjoyed a lifelong relationship with the University after graduating in 1968 with a degree in Chemical Engineering.
Dr Haylock served as a member of University Council from 1980 until 2003 and was its President for eight years. He was also a past President of the Students’ Union, a Pro-Chancellor of the University and Chairman of the Committee of University Chairmen. He became an Honorary Graduate of the University in 1985.
Professor David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor, said: “Ron was a truly remarkable person. His interest and tireless enthusiasm for the University of Nottingham knew no bounds.
“From his time as a student in the 1960’s, through to his role as President of Council and beyond, he was a passionate supporter of our University. He had a decisive role in creating the University we know today, and the impact of his expertise endures. He was universally liked and respected.
“On a personal level, I feel honoured to have known him and worked with him for the past 20 years, and I will miss him greatly.”
In his student days, Dr Haylock immersed himself in the University community and began a lifelong passion for music and the arts. He worked tirelessly to develop the student community through the Students’ Union. He was a keen participant in amateur dramatics at the University and was a member of the Nottingham University Revue Group, which formed in 1966, performed numerous shows on and off campus and took two revues to the Edinburgh Festival in 1967 and 1968.
As President of Council his period in office oversaw dramatic growth in student numbers, the planning and construction of a new campus in Nottingham and a commitment to the development of two overseas campuses in Malaysia and China.
John Mills, the current President of University Council: “Ron was a man whose advice you sought and company you enjoyed. The role he played in the development of the University of Nottingham will always stand proud. Students and Alumni will do well to follow his lead in ensuring others continue to benefit from a University that was such an important part of his life.”
As a member of the Campaign Leadership Board, Dr Haylock played a key role in the University’s Golden Jubilee Campaign and had been a member of the Campaign Board for the University’s current Impact campaign.
He was a major benefactor to the University over a 20-year period; the boardroom in the Nottingham University Business School being named The Haylock Room in his honour. The University Arts Centre and scholarships in the School of Geography also received his philanthropic support and he was admitted to the University’s College of Benefactors in 2006.
Kate Robertson, Director of the University’s Campaign and Alumni Relations Office, said: “Ron could not have been more helpful and encouraging in guiding the way in which our alumni and donors could enjoy a lifelong association with the University.
“He had a lasting commitment and support for Sherwood Hall and for student life more generally. His enthusiasm and energy for promoting his alma mater in so many ways will be a great loss to the Nottingham family.”
Dr Haylock’s business career also began at the University. In 1968, the then University Registrar asked him to find someone who might co-ordinate study abroad visits to Nottingham. This resulted in him joining the British Student Travel Centre as its Marketing Director, a role which equipped him with the skills for a lifelong career in the travel and tourism industry.
In that career he held various positions including Group Managing Director of Resort Condominiums International, Chairman of Hoseasons Holidays, Chairman of Kirker Holidays and Chairman of the Council for Fauna & Flora International.
As Group MD of RCI Europe he turned a struggling European operation with a handful of employees into a highly successful organisation with a turnover of £110 million and a workforce of 1,200.
He was also Vice-Chairman of Christel House, a charity established by his friend Christel DeHaan, another Honorary Graduate of Nottingham and co-founder of RCI. The organisation aims to help orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children in developing countries realise their full potential and become self-sufficient by providing education, nutrition, health care and a nurturing environment.
He also had a passion for woodlands and, in his capacity as a recently-appointed ambassador for the Woodlands Trust, he joined staff, students and members of the community in helping the Vice-Chancellor plant up the University’s Diamond Wood at Sutton Bonington last December.
It was with deep regret that the University of Nottingham community learned of Dr Haylock’s death. Thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this sad time.
He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
To the memory of Ron and to his loved ones and friends
It is with great sadness. but also with great gratitude that I had the inordinatetely good fortune to have known him, that I am paying my last respects to this wonderful erudite and gregarious man. We could not have had more different and divergent backgrounds but we struck a cord right from the start through our love of the fine arts and fine wine, in whichever order. An upon invitation visit to Dingley will now have to happen without his physical presence but I am sure not without his immortal spirit. I hope sincerely that a humble suggestion to dedicate the addagio of Mahler’s 5th symphony [in C Sharp Minor by Haitink] to Ron’s eternal memory would find acceptance by those who have known of his great love for the music of this great composer and director.
“And when thyself with shining foot shall pass
Among the guests star-scattered on the grass
And in thy joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one — turn down an empty glass”
Ron we love you and you will be forever on our mind and in our hearts
Jan and Laetitia.
Here’s to you Ron! To celebrate your life. Always a true gentleman and a scholar. A great humanitarian on many continents and a connoisseur of the fine arts and fine wines. A truly remarkable person. I dedicate the adagio of Mahler’s 5th symphony to you. I’ll see you in Cape Town were your last words to me. How prophetic. I see you clearly now and miss you terribly.
Like Ron, I was one of the first students in Sherwood Hall when it opened. I asked them to give me £50 to establish a tradition and when I went back, twenty years later, it was still going strong. I ran Ron’s campaign to be President of the Students Union and got him interested in revues, staging one when I arrived. I discovered that Ron had died when I read an obituary he had written of another former student and fellow Sherwood Hall alumnus, Calder Jose. I called the alumni office and asked to be in touch with Ron, only to be told, after a long pause, that he, too, had just died. It was a double shock. We are, after all, all witnesses to one another’s lives. Both Calder and Ron went on to have distinguished careers but in truth they will always be 19 years old to me, full of life and enthusiasm. I suspect that they, like me, spent much of their lives expecting a tap on the shoulder as someone discovered that our subsequent lives had indeed simply been an act, a piece of theatre, because in truth inside we were still those students back then, many decades ago. A couple of years ago I asked Doris Lessing how old she was inside. 18, she said. 18, 19, take your pick. Calder and Ron will always be that to me.
Ron was President of the Students Union at the time I was a postgraduate physics student, representing postgraduate students on Union Council. We formed an immediate rapport, as he was that kind of person. I met him in later years with my wife Dianne, at Reunions and so on, and time simply fell away as it does when one sees people with whom one had, in student days, a warm and relaxed relationship. His death is a sad loss at such a relatively young age.