We got to know Mark soon after our arrival in Lancaster in 1993. Initially I worked with him, colleagues sharing the responsibilities of the LUMS management team. But also we shared the enthusiasm and fun of developing an increasingly successful management school, which his commitment to management learning gave a particular innovative focus. My and Sue’s relationship also grew through ‘out-of-school’: social events with Anna, an infamous New Year’s Eve party, a Burns supper, occasional walks in Cumbria. Even as his horizons contracted as his illness took hold we managed to enjoy a holiday in Tenerife together and latterly ice cream at a local café where stories of the Management School and its aspirations still enthused him. He was a great colleague and good friend, we will miss his acute observations and sense of fun, though we never did get to hear him sing a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song.