My brother, John Waddington, who has died aged 83, after contracting Covid-19 in hospital, was a friend to many, a brilliant accountant, supporter of charities, patron of music and a collector of vintage motorcars.
He was a man who gave much and had many friends from every part of his life. He went to Christ’s College, Cambridge, with an open scholarship in classics in 1956 from University College school, north-west London, claiming that this was due to inspiring teaching, from Aubrey Morley and John Ussher.
The younger son of Eric Waddington, the finance director of the engineering firm Vickers, and Marjorie (nee Harding), John followed his father into accountancy, joining Spicer and Pegler, well known for its work with financial institutions. By the age of 29, he was made a partner, the youngest manager in its 100-year history.
He established an outstanding reputation as leader of their Group 7 team, which dealt with complex issues concerning mergers, acquisitions and fraud. He inspired a mixture of great affection and admiration from his team, a colleague writing that “his intellect, wise counsel, and willingness to make time and listen patiently to a steady stream of colleagues seeking advice on difficult technical issues was legendary throughout the firm”.
John gave his expertise to charities. He was treasurer of his old school, UCS, credited with seeing it safely through a large building programme. He was chair of trustees of the Royal Alexandra and Albert Foundation and School, restructuring its finances, seeing it become one of Britain’s most successful state boarding schools. He was also chair of trustees of the learning disabilities charity FitzRoy.
He had more than 200 programmes from visits to the Royal Opera House (of which he was a patron), showing the huge width of his musical interest. He enjoyed sharing his passion for music with friends and always started an evening at the opera house with dinner in the gallery.
On retirement, he acquired a rare variation of the 1958 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, then added a 1955 Hooper-bodied Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn and a 1939 Derby Bentley Drophead Coupe to his collection. John really knew how to choose cars.
John is survived by me, his nephews, Matthew and Rupert, and niece, Jessica, and three great-nieces, Ruth, Bethan and Ella.
