The following obituary was written by Richard's son, James.

Richard was born on 13 June 1929, in Handforth, Cheshire, England, to Norman Wilfred Stucley Catmur and Jocelyn Willsher Catmur [Weekes]. He was their second son, and only got involved in the family business, Catmur Machine Tools, after his elder brother’s early death.

Richard attended Tonbridge School (1943-1947) and then, after military service, read Chemistry at Brasenose College, Oxford (1949-1952). He strongly valued both education and family, so he helped all 14 of his grandchildren get a degree and his nephews and nieces get an good education.

While at BNC he met his future wife, Paulla Johnson. Paulla and Richard married soon after coming down from Oxford. After leaving BNC he joined ICI and remained with them until his retirement, although by then he worked for what would become Astra Zeneca.  His work resulted in the family moving location every few years and Richard rose to become head of the company’s operations in Mexico and then in Spain. The nomadic life involved living at various times in Derbyshire, Kent, Somerset, Sussex, Mexico City, Barcelona, Pennsylvania and then finally Colorado, with a growing family of, eventually, five children and always a selection of dogs, cats, various farm animals and horses. Richard’s involvement with horses came through Paulla, and normally resulted in them living on a farm with many horses, dogs, cats, hens, and in some cases pigs and cows. Even when living in Mexico they kept a selection of horses at a stable, since owning a farm was not possible.

He was always a keen hillwalker and climber; he and Paulla developed their mutual love of climbing in both the Lake District and the Alps. A life-long family friend remembers climbing with them – they were making an ascent in the Ecrins and a flying stone hit Paulla on her eyebrow causing a deep cut with a lot of blood. She quite firmly refused to go down and they went on to reach the summit. Such tenacity was a mark of their lives together.

He and Paulla were also ‘early adopters’ of skiing, and some of his children’s earliest memories are of arriving on the night-train in some snowy, cold, Alpine resort.

Richard will be remembered for his generosity, donating to many charities and good causes, including sponsoring a succession of young Polish refugees from the Ockenden Venture through the 1950s and 60s and supporting the Himalayan Foundation with educating young children from rural villages, especially girls who don’t always get an education. We remember him for the simple things, six-inch nails, harvesting olives, tending a vegetable garden, shelling almonds in the kitchen, walking the dog through the wild rosemary, hiking in the Montserrat, across Kinder, through the canyons of Utah ….

He died in Denver, Colorado on 3 October 2021, and is survived by five children, fourteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren (and counting!).

(FH 43-47)