A correspondent writes:

WHEN Sir Michael Colman was appointed First Church Estates Commissioner in 1993, eyebrows were raised both in the Church and among his acquaintance.

At the time, the appointment of someone with a business background was thought unusual in church circles, whereas, in business circles, it looked odd to be taking on an institution that had taken a public bruising over the loss of £800 million in ill-advised property deals.

By the time that he left in 1999, however, no one questioned the view that his appointment to the Commissioners had been inspired. Following the Lambeth Report of 1993, he addressed the Commissioners’ problems, which were many, not least an actuarial calculation that their commitment to paying clergy pensions was unsustainable.

The shifting of responsibility for later pensions to the dioceses ensured that the Commissioners remained an endowment for the benefit of the whole Church, and thus able to support poorer dioceses, cathedrals, the episcopate, and future ministry.

He improved governance by recruiting specialist property and securities expertise, and set up two sub-groups of the assets committee — a property group and a securities group — to oversee those portfolios.

He also spoke before the Parliamentary Pensions Select Committee that investigated the Commissioners’ problems. Its chair, Frank Field, described him as one of the Church’s heroes. He also addressed the General Synod, apologising for the Commissioners’ past performance — although he did not attend every session: he preferred to use his time during the York sessions to visit the Commissioners’ farms in the area, one of his favourite pastimes.

Members of staff at the Commissioners during his time spoke of his courtesy, his willingness to listen, and his ability to ask searching questions. He had a reputation for always being available, which was remarkable, given that he was concurrently chair of the family firm of Reckitt & Colman, then undergoing a sale of the mustard business to Unilever, ensuring that the staff were protected. He never drew his £80,000 Commissioners’ salary.

The only thing that upset him during his time at the Commissioners, he told the Church Times in 2007, was the disloyalty among some senior church leaders. “In business, if you are not with the board you get out. This was not the case in the Church.”

He was ever modest about his achievements. He said in 1997: “I wouldn’t say we have recouped, but, with the help we have had from the wider Church, we have been able to modify our liabilities.”

Michael Jeremiah Colman was born in 1928 to the family that had put its name to mustard, and was educated at King’s Mead School, Seaford, and Eton. After National Service, he joined the family firm, working in Hull. In 1961, he succeeded in the family baronetcy and inherited Summerdown Farm, in Hampshire, and Malshanger, a 16-bedroom mansion that he later opened up to Holy Trinity, Brompton, to be used for retreats and weekend meetings. “I’m not keen on the modern diet of church music,” he said, “but what they have done for young people in London is wonderful.”

In retirement, he dedicated himself to the growing, refining, and selling of English peppermint under the Summerdown label.

Sir Michael Colman died on 26 December 2023, aged 95. He is survived by Judy, his wife of 68 years, and five children.