The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the untimely death of Richard – Rick – Ferris (B 83) on 28th November 2019, aged 49. 

After leaving Haileybury in 1988, Richard went up to Oxford to read law at Brasenose College, after which he went to the College of Law, York where he met his future wife Brona, whom he married in 1988.

Richard joined Holman, Fenwick and Willan in 1991, specialising in insurance and reinsurance, before joining Riverstone Management Ltd in 2003 as Head of Litigation. He joined Aon plc as Deputy Legal Director in 2007, eventually becoming chief counsel for the company’s EMEA Risk businesses, including re/insurance broking, risk and market consulting and captive management.

The Haileybury Society offers its deepest condolences to Richard’s wife, Brona and their two teenage sons, Matthew and Michael, at this most difficult time.

A tribute site, dedicated to the memory of Richard and raising funds for the British Heart Foundation can be found here. You can also contribute your own memories of Richard to his time line.  

Detailed obituary

Since this announcement first appeared, we were pleased to receive this heartfelt obituary to Richard from Michael Shaw, a friend of Richard’s since his days at Oxford. 

Early days

Richard Ferris, known as Rick to his Brasenose friends, was born on 5 January 1970 to parents Richard and Margaret. Due to his father’s career as managing director of Eastman Kodak in a number of different countries, Rick’s childhood was an international one; born in Malaysia, he was christened in what was then Rhodesia, lived in Singapore until he was 7, then in South Africa from where he went to Haileybury School at the age of 12. When asked he would always describe himself as Scottish, as that was where his parents were from, although he only ever lived there during school and university holidays after his parents retired to Ayr when he was 16.

Oxford

Rick was one of the first friends I made at Brasenose. He had a talent for getting to know people quickly and as a former boarding school pupil he seemed enviably at ease in the new surroundings of college. As I got to know him better I found that he was a man of wide interests, from literature (English had been his passion at school) and music to sport where his particular strength was in racquet sports. Although a good squash player, his favourite game was real tennis for which he was on the fringe of the university team. He spent a very happy three years at Brasenose, and in our last year he and I had rooms two doors apart in Frewin Court where we probably distracted each other from our studies a bit too much.

College of Law

After graduating in 1991 Rick and I, together with fellow Brasenose lawyers Andrew Hughes and Tamsin Nicholds, went to the College of Law in York to study for Law Society Finals and it was there that Rick met his future wife, Brona. Whilst at Brasenose Rick had secured a training contract at City of London solicitors’ firm Holman, Fenwick and Willan, chosen because of its strength in shipping law. Once there he found insurance law more to his liking and this became his professional specialism after qualifying as a solicitor in 1994.

A career blossoms

In 2003 he made the step from private practice into an in-house role as head of litigation with Riverstone. Four years later he joined insurance giant Aon plc as Deputy Legal Director. At Aon he rose to become chief counsel for the company’s Risk businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including re/insurance broking, risk and market consulting and captive management.  It was a measure of the respect and affection in which he was held by his colleagues that so many wished to attend his funeral.

A proud family man

Rick and Brona married in 1998 and started a family with sons Matthew and Michael born in 2002 and 2004. As an only child who had been to boarding school Rick was always very family minded, taking a great and genuine interest in the families of his friends even before becoming a father himself. Once a father, he adored his boys who are now a great credit to him and Brona.

Rick’s illness was first diagnosed in 2016 when it was discovered that a virus infection had caused scarring to his heart tissue and significantly reduced its function. For a few years it seemed that he would be able to manage this with medication and although forced to give up the red wines which he loved he otherwise carried on living much as normal. Sadly though, a deterioration in his condition put him in need of a heart transplant and it was at Harefield Hospital whilst awaiting a suitable donor that he passed away on 28 November 2019. Throughout his last few months in intensive care he remained very much the man I knew, continuing to show his characteristic concern for others even as they were concerned for him.

Rick was a man of many fine qualities; a devoted husband, dedicated father, loyal and true friend and respected colleague. Those who were privileged to know him will also remember his great and sly sense of humour, his tremendous ability to mimic accents and his love of a good steak, science fiction and technology. Above all though we will remember him as a someone who left us too soon with so much more to give.

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