AUGUST 2018

OBITUARY
Movement loses leading co-operator,
Lord Thomas of Macclesfield
A pioneer of ethical finance, Terence James Thomas – Lord
Thomas of Macclesfield – passed away on 1 July at the age of 80.
A former managing director of the Co-operative Bank, he
established a new approach to finance, placing ethical and
environmental concerns at the heart of the business.
He started working for the Bank in 1973, as the first marketing
manager of any UK bank. After being appointed managing
director in 1988, he commissioned a statue of Victorian social
reformer Robert Owen, which was placed outside the Bank’s
premises on Balloon Street, Manchester.
Owen’s take on management influenced Lord Thomas’s
own. He committed the Bank to a customer-led ethical and
environmental policy in 1992, which the organisation continued
to develop following his retirement. He also introduced free
banking to UK consumers.
He spent 25 years at the Bank before retiring and joining the
House of Lords as a Labour peer in 1997, although his hopes for
a new career in public service was shortened by illness.
He also served as president of the International Co-operative
Banking Association between 1988 and 1996. He was visiting
professor of Stirling University and chief examiner of the
Chartered Institute of Bankers. He chaired the East Manchester
Partnership between 1990 and 1996.
Paul Monaghan, chief executive of the Fair Tax Mark and
former head of sustainability at the Co-op Group, said: “Terry
brought me into the Co-op Bank in 1994 to add some science and
steel to the Bank’s environmental programmes – he wanted to
create nothing less than the world’s first ecological bank.
“He was an inspiration to work with and I would suggest
that he is arguably the most important co-operator of modern
times. He turned the Co-operative Bank into a world-renowned
champion of ethical business conduct.
“Before TJT, the UK’s co-op movement was shrinking into
irrelevance and obscurity, but he demonstrated what co-op
values and principles looked like in a modern context – and
forced the movement to radically up its game.”
Mr Monaghan added: “I’ve never seen a business leader so
loved by employees as Terry was: he left his last management
conference to floods of tears akin to a retiring pop star.
“He and the Body Shop’s Anita Roddick raised the bar
on corporate responsibility more than anyone in that era.
He took on issues well ahead of the curve – from climate change
to landmines – and shook up everyone from the Bank of England
to the Chemicals Industries Association.
“We met regularly following his retirement and I’m sad to
say that it pained him that he was never accorded the credit
he deserved by much of the co-op movement – but then again,
when he ran for the Co-op Group CEO position he did pledge a
radical ethical renaissance and an end to the sale of tobacco
products! The world really is the poorer for his passing.”
Frank Nelson, a member of the Group’s National Members’
Council who worked with Lord Thomas at the Bank, said: “He
was responsible in large measure for the Co-operative Bank
p Lord Thomas helped set new standards for ethical banking
becoming the most popular bank in the country and, under
his leadership, the Bank was embedded with our Co-operative
Values and Principles. He was, in my 40-year Co-op career
– including a spell as a marketing manager at the Bank – the
best co-op leader I have ever met. I’ll remember him for that.”
Malcolm Hurlston, who worked with Lord Thomas throughout
his career and introduced him to employee share ownership in
the US, said: “Lord Thomas was the leading personal banker
of his generation and probably of the 20th century.
“He came to prominence when he joined the Co-operative
Bank. Then he became the first managing director of Unity
Trust, co-owned by the Co-op and the trade unions, where he
brought employee share ownership to Britain.
“The Co-op Bank became the most popular bank in the
country under his leadership, re-infusing it with co-operative
principles and working closely with the Labour Party.”
Passionate commitment
He added: “As the first chair of the East Manchester
Partnership he played a major role in the regeneration
of east Manchester and was instrumental in bringing the 2002
Commonwealth Games to the city. He also became the first
chairman of the North West Regional Development Agency.
“He was personal, committed and engaging: few could resist
his conviction, charm, hywl and passionate commitment to
good causes. TJT, as he was affectionately known, was greatly
respected and admired by all his colleagues. He was the
popular personal banker whose memory lives on in an era when
corporate bankers have never been so scorned.”
Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK, said: “The
death of Lord Thomas has stripped us of the most imaginative
and far-sighted co-operative entrepreneur of his day. He was the
great reinventor of co-operative values.”
The Co-op Group’s member nominated director Hazel Blears
added: “Terry Thomas was a giant of our co-op movement and
helped us to ensure our future. I learned so much from him.
He always had time to listen and to guide and support. He was
a modest man of great talent and achievements.”
AUGUST 2018 | 15