July 2, 2003—A prime mover in the early development of UK facilities management has gone. Derek Butcher, known to so many in the profession around the world, died last week.
He passed away quietly at his home near Tenterden, Kent on Thursday 19th June 2003 following a battle with cancer. The news follows the death of Hugh Channon, another of FM’s founding fathers, in April.
As head of planning and development for the BBC, Butcher was already a well established figure when he ran the first ever facilities conference in London in 1986. Along with Frank Duffy, he was instrumental in the creation of the Association of Facility Managers, which eventually merged with the IFM to form the BIFM in 1993.
His friend and business partner Derek Paxman, with whom Butcher founded The Centre for Facilities Consultancy in 1992, said: “Derek was a founding father of FM in the UK and even raised agreements with IFMA to enable British facilities managers to grow their own profession in the form of the Association of Facilities Managers which he chaired for its first four years.
—Richard Byatt
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2003 i-FM
