Tribute to Michael Oglesby CBE, 1939-2019

Michael Oglesby CBE (1939-2019)
Co-founder of the Oglesby Charitable Trust (OCT), and Chair (1993 – 2018)

Michael Oglesby CBE co-founded the OCT with his wife Jean, in 1993. Together they created an organisation that works across many parts of the charity sector, and established the model for which the Trust is now known: relational, thoughtful, purposeful and focused on backing people, not projects.

Michael was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. He was dyslexic and left school at 16, to work for his father as a plumber, before going to Aston College of Advanced Technology (which then became Aston University). He spent his early working years in the construction industry before moving to Manchester in 1970.

In 1976, he founded the family property business – Bruntwood – with £50,000 of equity from a business angel. He was Chief Executive until 1999, when he was succeeded by his son, Chris. He remained Chair until 2015.

Stepping down as CEO whilst still relatively young enabled Michael to bring his visionary leadership to numerous significant civic roles. He was Chair of Manchester’s inward investment agency, MIDAS, for almost 15 years, and played a big part in the city’s renaissance through the early 2000s when he was also a founding Board member of the Manchester LEP. He held the roles of High Sheriff of Greater Manchester and then Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. He was a member of the Global Leadership Board for the University of Manchester and Chair of the Steering Board for the Manchester Cancer Research Centre – for which he advocated and fundraised tirelessly, securing philanthropic contributions of £10m.

As a Fellow of Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, he led the development of its new £31m extension in 2012 and performed the same role with the Hallé, initially helping it secure rehearsal space in St Peter’s Church in Ancoats. He then led the redevelopment of the Oglesby Centre extension in 2019, the proud opening of which proved to be one of his last public engagements.

In 2011, in recognition of all his business, civic and philanthropic work, he received a CBE for services to Industry and Charity. He was also immensely proud, in that same year, that he and Jean received Medals for Arts Philanthropy to specifically recognise the work they had done in the region and nationally to support and promote the Arts. The Bruntwood Prize is a continuing playwriting competition that Michael developed with the Royal Exchange Theatre and that was launched in 2005 – today it still stands as the biggest competition in Europe for new playwrights.

Michael’s remarkable business and civic legacy was matched by his broad and deep commitment to philanthropy. At Bruntwood, Michael believed that corporate organisations have a unique opportunity to truly understand and engage with the communities in which they are based, and that fostering these relationships is good business, for everyone. By the end of Michael’s life, the OCT had become one of the major charitable funders in the North of England, having donated over £20 million to over 300 charities.

Michael brought an incredible energy and drive to every moment of his leadership at the OCT, even as his health declined. Indeed, despite knowing that he personally would not benefit from it, when diagnosed with a blood cancer for which there was no known specific treatment (Chronic MyeloMonocytic Leukaemia) and no specialist research group in the UK, he set up a small research group at The Christie Hospital MCRC, which has grown to become one of the leading research groups in the world for investigation and treatment of CMML.

He was ambitious for all the charities that the Trust supported; encouraging them to reach further, extend their impact, to leave a greater mark. His incredible vision for a better future helped all of us to confidently think bigger; to be more creative; to do it now. But he was also someone who could be in the detail, taking time to truly understand the problems faced and to walk alongside those tasked with bringing solutions.

As a Trust, we stand alongside so many other organisations that are deeply grateful for the time we had with Michael Oglesby, and for the extraordinary, multi-faceted, legacy he leaves behind.