David Cliffe (15 May 1950 - 23 Jan 2019)

David Cliffe died on 23 January 2019, aged 68, after a long illness. Beloved husband of Marion, devoted father (with their mother, his former wife Pauline Urwin) of Kate, Tom and Amy, grandfather of Joseph, brother of Jennifer and Gillian, eldest child of the late Reginald and Nancy Cliffe; and much-loved member of a large extended family in Stoke-on-Trent. A son of the Potteries and lifelong Stoke City Football Club supporter, he spent the latter 40 years of his life in Leamington Spa, where his children were born and where he had a wide and loving group of friends.

In a varied career David engaged in youth and community work, academic research, work for the Probation Service, and information management for Warwickshire County Council. He was joint author in 1992, with David Berridge, of 'Closing Children's Homes', an important report for The National Children's Bureau on Warwickshire's radical move in 1986 to close its residential homes for children.

David loved music, from classical to jazz and blues, and read enormously, especially modern American writers, until his illness prevented this, to his great distress. He had a saxophone - which he almost never played; his CDs and books (a great many of both) reflected richly diverse and enquiring cultural interests; he enjoyed wine and was an excellent, adventurous cook. He voted Labour all his life.

David was brave, honest, loyal, generous, kind and very funny. His son Tom called him "an ol' softy": he was. He will be terribly missed.

MLD