Obituary: Michael Arthur MBE
IQ and QMJ mourn the passing of former technical director and deputy editor of Quarry Management
IT is with great sadness that we report the death of Michael Arthur at the age of 82. Mike spent the whole of his career in the aggregates industry, which he joined in 1960 after graduating from Sheffield University with a degree in Geography and Geology. His first job was working as a lab technician for Trent Gravels, near Nottingham, and, following the completion of an Advanced City & Guilds Certificate in Quarrying at Grantham College, in 1965 he was promoted to the role of assistant quarry manager. In 1971 he was appointed as senior lecturer at Doncaster College, where he was heavily involved with the development of the newly created Doncaster Assisted Private Study Course in Quarrying (DAPS). The flexibility of home-based learning made this course accessible to anyone seeking to enhance their career prospects and it soon became recognized as the benchmark qualification for quarry management in the UK.
After 13 years in this position Mike moved back to Nottingham in the joint role of technical director of the Institute of Quarrying and deputy editor of the IQ journal, Quarry Management. In this position he was involved in all aspects of raising education standards in the quarry products sector, where he was greatly respected both for his technical knowledge, kindly manner, and genuine interest in helping people to develop their careers. To his great surprise, the significant contribution he had made towards the improvement of education and training in the aggregates sector was officially recognized in 1999, when he was awarded an MBE for his services to the industry. Later that year Mike and his wife, Tineke, went on an overseas tour on behalf of the Institute where he had been invited to speak at functions mounted by the IQ sections in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The following year he retired, although he continued with his lifelong interest in quarrying though contact with IQ friends at branch level and occasional visits to the Hillhead Quarry Exhibition.
