Although as a young man he wanted to become a journalist, my father, Christopher Emmerson, who has died aged 90, chose a career in the print trade, principally the greetings card industry. For two decades he was a managing director with the printing company Henry Hildesley Ltd, where he specialised in the acetate greetings cards (with a finish like a photograph) that enjoyed popularity through the 1960s and 70s.
Chris was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of Myn (nee Harle) and Jack Emmerson, who was a manager with the National Provincial Bank. He attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, which was evacuated to Penrith, Cumbria, in September 1939 – some 600 boys with gas masks and packs of food were billeted to local residents – to avoid the bombing that Newcastle was expected to face because of its shipbuilding and armament factories.
Chris never troubled the academic or sporting boards at school, but he was the honorary secretary of the debating society. His schoolmates and fellow debaters included the future journalists George Gale and Brian Redhead, and Peter Taylor, who would become lord chief justice. Although his overall grades were good, comments in his school reports could seem harsh: “satisfactory”, “too careless” and “has ideas, though expressions sometimes confused”. A classic in classics: “Latin – irrational lapses are his chief danger.”
He went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1949 to read history and there he developed a love of theatre and music. He joined the Footlights and became the editor of the Varsity newspaper.
A routine check while at university revealed a shadow on his lung, and tuberculosis was diagnosed. Chris was sent to the Barrasford sanatorium near Hexham, where he met Dorothy Sturgeon, a fellow patient. They fell in love, and married in June 1955.
Chris had joined Hildesley’s in 1953 as northern sales director, and in 1961 was invited to move south, so our family settled in Chigwell Row, Essex. Later Chris worked for H&M Offset and Adams Bros and Shardlow before retiring in the mid-80s.
He enjoyed a long retirement, spending much time watching cricket, but his main interest was theatre, seeing shows and plays. Chris and Dorothy developed an affection for Suffolk as well as Northumberland and had a holiday cottage just outside Snape for 25 years.
Dorothy died in 2018. Chris is survived by two sons, Nick and me, and four grandchildren, Anna, Jack, Molly and Emily.
