St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

44 ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

SANDBERG – On 2nd July 2017, Michael Graham Ruddock

Tenor Ian Bostridge writes: I think Robert (with his tongue in his cheek, as it often was, quite literally) liked to be thought of as an old-fashioned impresario. He didn’t just find work or field requests. He had a very clear sense of how to nurture a career and of how to construct interesting and varied seasons which could stimulate the creative juices of those lucky enough to be on his list. His wider influence on concert and opera performances worldwide over the past few decades has been incalculable, and will be palpably missed. Artist management was a personal thing for Robert, not a mere business transaction. At many periods of my life we spoke every day. When I was struck down with a kidney stone in Vienna, he stayed with me for the scans, keeping me company through the agony and the boredom. After he retired from being an agent, he remained a dear friend. We met often in New York where, with typical energy, he had taken on a new role at the Met. He was a man of the widest taste and culture, impishly funny and very kind. A lover of theatre and art, and a fine linguist, he was also a voracious and insightful reader, always eager to discuss the latest Alan Hollinghurst novel, say, or the new Hilary Mantel, though his favourite book was Middlemarch .

REYNOLDS – In June 2017, Edward Geoffrey Willoughby Reynolds (D, 1937-1940). Father of Edward (D, 1966- 1971). Royal Engineers 1943-1947. Chartered Surveyor 1947- 1951. Farmer, Gloucestershire 1951-1981. Retired 1981. SHAW – On 3rd October 2017, Antony E Shaw (A, 1940-1942). The following obituary was provided by Richard Shaw: Antony grew up living close to St Edward’s School in Capel Close, Summertown. After leaving school during the war, he commenced reading Engineering at Swansea but was soon called up and joined The Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) and quickly became a young officer. After the war he took his articles to become a Chartered Accountant with a view to joining his father’s practice in Oxford. Once qualified, Antony had other ideas and he decided that his future would be in industry and commerce rather than in the profession. He held senior positions in Roneo Vickers, British Oxygen and, latterly, was Finance Director of Scaffolding GB PLC. He played rugby whilst in the Royal Navy and squash twice a week until the age of 76! He married Mary in 1947 and they moved to Bromley in 1956 with their three sons Richard, Martin and Christopher. After he was widowed in 2001, Antony moved to live in Hambleton beside Rutland Water for the remainder of his life. He proudly wore his old school ties throughout his life. SHEPHERD – On 16th April 2017, Richard Mark Shepherd (A, 1961-65). Brother of Alistair (A, 1956-1961) and William (A, 1959-1964).

Sandberg (E, 1941-1945). Grandfather of Robbie (A, 2010-2012). School Prefect, Head of House, Sacristan, Librarian.

Sergeant in the JTC. President of the St Edward’s School Society 1990-1992. The following obituary is taken from The Telegraph : Lord Sandberg, who has died aged 90, was an entrepreneurial and expansive chairman of Hongkong Bank, and later a Liberal Democrat peer. Michael Sandberg rose through the hierarchy of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation to become its chairman and chief manager in Hong Kong in 1977. Affable and urbane but combative when he needed to be, he was more of a dealmaker than a traditional banker. Indicative of a willingness to ruffle feathers was his decision Sandberg struck a private deal – brokered by the shipping tycoon YK Pao – to sell the bank’s controlling stake in Hutchison to Li at a price that was below the book value of its assets and was described by a former Hutchison director as “a steal”. No bids were invited from other potentially interested parties, including the rival trading houses of Jardines and Swires. But he rode out the storm – and by securing the bank’s relationship with Li, signalled willingness to do business with other up-and- coming Chinese entrepreneurs who would dominate the boom years ahead. Having buttressed Hongkong Bank’s position in its home market, Sandberg embarked on an ambitious plan to build a “three-legged stool”, in which the second leg would be in the US and the third in the UK and Europe. In 1980, he acquired 51 per cent of Marine Midland, a commercial bank with in 1979 to sell Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-shing.

V A L E T E O B I T U A R I E S

Michael Sandberg

a branch network in New York State, which Sandberg declared “jolly well-run”. The arrangement was first announced as “a partnership” but became an increasing drain on the parent bank’s capital; Marine Midland was eventually brought under control from Hong Kong, and clocked up serious losses in the late 1980s. In pursuit of the third leg, Sandberg notably took on the Governor of the Bank of England, Gordon Richardson over the Royal Bank of Scotland. Both bids were referred to the Monopolies Commission, which conveniently ruled against both bids, on the grounds that the Scottish economy would suffer if RBS was taken over. Sandberg’s willingness to take risks inevitably left a mixed record when he retired from the chair in 1986: among the bank’s major Hong Kong borrowers on his watch, for example, was Carrian, the scandal-ridden and ultimately bankrupt property group. But under his dynamic leadership the Hongkong Bank’s balance sheet multiplied in size many times as its horizons became global, while its commitment to its home territory – at a time of political uncertainty ahead of the handover to China – could not have been more robustly restated.

Antony Shaw