I have written elsewhere about Terry's professional life and achievements and highlighted his great skill and commitment in nurturing others and facilitating groups and organisations.  These are my personal experiences.

My first contact with Terry was as a young member of BASW in 1975, recently qualified, watching him on the stage at conferences as an Assistant General Secretary.  When I became General Secretary myself I came to appreciate Terry's wise and thoughtful perspectives on organisational challenges and inter-personal tensions.  When I perhaps belatedly recognised that I needed a personal mentor and 'external' perspective, Terry willingly agreed and I greatly valued the generous time which he gave me once every two or three months when I visited him at his office in Kensington. 

As I became more involved in international social work networks and organisations, I came to see Terry's scope and influence.  Many social workers from around the world have contacted me since his death to express their sadness and to appreciate what Terry gave to the International Federation of Social Workers, the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work and many other formal and informal groups.  As President of IFSW for 4 years, I relied on Terry's wise counsel and in more recent years we have worked together to launch and sustain the fragile Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work.  As a consummate networker, Terry helped secure our place in the ranks of Commonwealth Accredited Organisations and helped COSW to 'punch above our weight' in those corridors.

Terry was a passionate supporter of human rights principles and organisations and again I learnt so much from his sure judgement in challenging situations and his passion.  It is a sad loss that he will not be around to defend the human rights gains which have been made since 1945 and in more recent years as the global, multi-lateral order comes under sustained attach from nationalists and egotists.  The respect for humanity which is embodied in the European and UN global rights structures are too precious to be cast aside.  Fighting to promote a wider appreciation of the value of human rights instruments and to defend the legal structures would be a fitting memorial for Terry.

Terry could have done none of that without the support and encouragement of Margaret, who has a professional career and civic standing in her own right.  They made a formidable couple and I hope Margaret feels able to carry on her invaluable work despite the shock and grief of the tragic loss of her soulmate.

I still find it difficult if not impossible to imagine that Terry will not be there at the end of a phone to bounce ideas, give encouragement and validation and steer through difficult challenges.  Even when writing the obituary I kept thinking 'Oh, Terry will be able to clarify that fact or detail' only to be caught up short.  In common with so many others, following the shock of his death, I can now only pause to appreciate the great example of a person who achieved so much but lived for others, who cared passionately about the state of the world and social injustice but was always good humoured and full of fun, who had a grasp of the global order alongside the nurturing of personal relationships.  In fact a consummate social worker!

Terry and Margaret have connections in New Zealand so it is perhaps fitting to finish on an international note - with a proverb in the Maori language from Aotoarea New Zealand sent to me by a social work colleague there who also knew Terry well.  "Kua hinga te Totara i te wao nui a Tane” - "The Totora has fallen in the forest of Tane".  Perhaps we can best understand this in our context as recognising the impact of the ancient oak which falls in a storm in the forest.  The impact is felt widely among the smaller trees and undergrowth and the many creatures that shelter around.  For a time the space is disturbed and bare and the forest will never be the same again.  But the large clearing created by that fallen giant is not dormant.  There will be new growth from the acorns which were shed and new opportunities will open up, nurtured by that giant tree. 

In our grief let's pray that those nurtured by Terry's example and shared wisdom have his courage, dogged tenacity and absolute conviction that a better world is possible and that together we can achieve tomorrow what today might seem impossible - a fairer world, a respectful community and social justice for all.