Journal

Obituary: Richard Overbury

Richard Overbury, 1940-2024

Richard Overbury (left) with his fellow Road Kill Riders.

Richard Douglas Overbury died on 22 April at Ings House Nursing Home in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire after a protracted decline into dementia. He was just three weeks short of his 84th Birthday.

Richard was born in York, gained a West Riding scholarship to York Grammar School and then went on to gain a first-class honours degree at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology).

Chemistry was his specialist subject but in his first job in Birmingham he developed a skin rash from some of the products and this prompted him to look for an alternative career.

Quite by chance he noticed an advert for a Patent Agent in Chancery Lane and he always maintained that that was the luckiest moment of his life.

He became a partner with Haseltine Lake & Co in 1973 and stayed with the firm until he retired in 2000.

As part of an expansionist move Richard was tasked with opening an office in Park Square, Leeds in 1973. This suited him in a business context as his main client included Vickers in Leeds and Barrow as well as a temperament which was Northern in all the right ways. In other words, he was dependable, affable, loyal, principled and well respected – qualities which also helped him develop strong links with Japanese clients.

In his mid-twenties, Richard was involved in a serious road accident which left him with a slight limp. Far from considering this an impediment he took it as a challenge. By no means a fanatical hiker he could count most peaks in the Lake District, Yorkshire’s Three Peaks, Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya on his CV.

However, as a sign of his rational thinking he took the weight off his feet, literally, becoming an active member of the Leeds sub aqua diving club. He was never happier than when diving amongst the spectacular shoals in The Philippines, observing sharks in the Red Sea and delving into the shipwrecks in Scapa Flow. By way of a payback, he was treasurer in his later years.

Richard kept up his links with fellow members of the patent profession well into retirement attending a local Leeds centric luncheon club and as an enthusiastic member of a cycling group, known as the Road Kill Riders, shown in the photo (Richard is on the left). However, he maintained that politically he never made the slightest difference to anything or anyone throughout his life. This was because his neighbour and lifelong friend always voted for the opposite party. and so without fail at every election and much to their joint mirth, they cancelled each other out.

Richard leaves behind two adopted children, his wife, Joyce, and two stepchildren.

David Norris, Bill Orr, Christopher Gibbs and Michael Harrison