Obituary: Stephen Savery (1936–2022)

Much respected industry professional and spokesman passes away following short illness 

IT is with great sadness that we report the death of Stephen Patrick Antony Savery, who died peacefully at his home near Bath on 14 April 2022, aged 86, following a short illness. Stephen was born in Weston-super-Mare and educated at Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire, where he excelled at athletics. He was called up for National Service soon after leaving college and served for two years, first as an NCO weapons training instructor in the Middlesex Regiment before being commissioned into the Royal Sussex Regiment and serving in Germany and Austria. He was a competent soldier but chose quarrying as his natural métier. On completion of National Service, Stephen joined Amey Roadstone Corp. (ARC) as a trainee manager, progressing to quarry manager in 1960. His career took him through various management posts at ARC, reaching the position of divisional managing director in 1976. During his last three years with ARC he was a member of the Production Directors Committee. In 1979 Stephen joined The Redland Group as assistant managing director and eventually rose to deputy managing director. During his time with Redland he was extensively involved in developing quarry operations across the UK. He also visited the US to evaluate quarries with a view to purchase, and had responsibility for a quarry operation Redland were developing in East Africa.

Stephen retired in 1992 to set up a very successful consultancy where he earned a reputation as a competent expert witness in both legal and civil litigations covering environmental matters, planning applications (including the strategy for developing mammoth and coastal quarries), and health and safety issues. He served as the industry spokesman on a host of government and CBI committees, often at ministerial level, together with numerous steering groups and forums. In addition, Stephen gave presentations at the House of Commons as leader of CBI delegations, chaired the CBI Minerals Committee from 1991 to 1995, lectured in many parts of the world, and was a member of the steering group for the University of Bath’s PhD project on Environmental Management Systems. With no less than 11 published papers to his name, he also collected a quarrying industry archive spanning four decades, which covered an important period in the quarrying industry’s evolutionary process. The archive is lodged as the Records Office in Taunton. In such spare time as he had, Stephen was a military historian of World War I. He lectured on the subject at schools and various other venues and is the author of a book on the subject – The Western Front. Stephen’s contribution to the Institute of Quarrying was also significant. Having joined as a graduate member in 1966, he rose to Chairman of the IQ Council, President, International President, and was finally awarded an Honorary Fellowship. In a career stretching over almost half a century working in and for the quarrying industry, Stephen Savery made an outstanding contribution to the industry, its professional body, and its trade associations. The scope of his activities throughout his career was inspirational and remains so today.