It is with great sadness that we learned that Peter Upstone died unexpectedly of a heart attack in September 2012. He was 68.
I first met Peter at Leeds University in the 1960s when I was a Fresher and he had completed his BSc and was in the final stages of an MPhil in the Procter Department of Food and Leather Science. After Leeds we both worked with Barrow Hepburn but in quite different areas.
Peter then moved with his first with Christine to the Great Glen in Scotland and together they developed and ran a very large guest house. But he was not to be kept away from leather for long, setting up the Highland Leather Laboratory in an adjacent building. This sold chemicals and advice to small and home based highland tanneries and did testing for a wide range of clients. This was established using the laboratory out of the famous Walker Bolton tannery which he and I bought from the receiver.
In the 1980s he started to do some consultancy work for the international aid and development bodies and this took him to Laos and Thailand. While there he set up a business importing dog chews into the UK. He settled in Thailand and then spent more time working in the service sector. In 1996 The AIT Center (Asian Institute of Technology) appointed him as General Manager citing his many years of experience in the service sector, particularly in hotel management and training.
In his final years he worked as National Training Manager for Chubb Thailand. He never lost contact with the leather industry and was always keen to offer hospitality to his many old colleagues who passed through Thailand. His second wife, Yupa, who survives him with their daughter, worked extensively in the Thai leather industry.
As the small surviving leather group from Leeds University steadily diminshes the loss of Peter is a particularly sad moment.
The picture of Peter is a recent one taken from his LinkedIn page.