Pat Phillips writes:
SPCK was privileged to have Clive Wright on its governing body during a significant period of its history. Having been recruited by Bishop Geoffrey Rowell in 1998, he succeeded Sir Hugh Beach as chair the next year. SPCK was going through challenging times as its publishing and bookselling operations faced increasing competition. Clive made an immense contribution, particularly in bringing a sense of realism in place of over-optimistic targets. He also brought a scholarly mind and a concern for good writing.
Clive came to SPCK from a career in the oil industry, after a degree in modern languages at Keble College, Oxford. His first job, with Shell, took him to the French Congo for four years. He then moved to Esso, where, over the next 25 years, (including two two-year posts in the US), he fulfilled management positions in areas ranging from finance, and IT to marketing and public relations. His final post was as a director of Arco Chemical Europe, where he spent nine years, until retiring in 1996.
Throughout his working life, Clive had a great concern for environmental issues; he became involved with Groundwork Foundation and other similar organisations. He was proactive in the field of business ethics and the interface between faith and work. He was a founder trustee of the Institute of Business Ethics in 1986 and member of its executive committee until 2006. He helped to set up the Christian Association of Business Executives (and served as chair), and was on the steering committee of Faith in Business based at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He was, for many years, involved at St George’s House, Windsor, where he helped to organise forums on many issues relating to faith within society. He wrote and lectured widely, and his book, The Business of Virtue, published in 2004, is still highly regarded as an encapsulation of thinking in this area. His endeavours in this field led to his being appointed OBE for services to business ethics.
At SPCK, his clear strategic thinking informed many important decisions, not least the disposal of the bookshops chain, where the losses had become too great for SPCK to sustain without risk to the entire organisation. It was an immense sadness to Clive that the shops did not long survive the transition to new owners, and the human cost in loss of jobs caused him particular distress. It did, however, enable SPCK to focus on its publishing and charitable operations.
Clive handed over the chair in 2006 to Bishop Michael Perham, but continued to serve on the governing body in a co-opted capacity until 2010. He also served for many years as the SPCK nominee director on the board of the William Leech Companies (a generous benefactor to five Christian charities, including SPCK), where he again made a significant contribution. After retiring as a trustee, he was elected a vice-president of SPCK and continued to support its work through generous donations and in many other ways. He was often called upon by his successor chairs (and each new CEO) for advice.
SPCK was a specific focus for Clive’s Christian commitment, but he was an active participant in the Church throughout his life, in whatever location he found himself. He served on several PCCs and in many other capacities at parish level. His primary allegiance was to All Saints’, Margaret Street, where he was first taken by his father as a teenager, and where he worshipped when in London. He did a final stint on their PCC quite recently, stepping down last year, at the age of 86, and was still serving regularly as a sidesman, despite ongoing frailty after a back injury two years ago.
Clive’s interests ranged across many disciplines, and his knowledge in all of them was formidable, but he wore his learning lightly, and his warm and engaging personality made him many friends. His later years were clouded by the illness of Joy, his beloved wife of nearly 60 years, for whom he cared devotedly throughout her battle against dementia until her death early in 2018. He was comforted in his loss by their sons, Martin and Nicholas, and grandsons, Felix and Gabriel, of whom he was immensely proud.
Clive died on 2 February, aged 87, after a short time in hospital with pneumonia and heart complications. All Saints’ was full for his funeral, an indication of the esteem and affection in which he was held and how greatly he will be missed by all who knew him.
