My father, Mike Maltby, who has died aged 74 from a heart attack, spent many years in charge of the student accommodation at University College London. He dedicated his time there to helping thousands of students while simultaneously ensuring the university was at the forefront of computer technology – something that became a lifelong passion.
Mike was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to Reginald Maltby, an aeronautical draughtsman, and his wife, Winifred (nee Feasey). He attended Salesian college, Oxford, before heading to UCL, and graduated in 1967 from the department of chemistry.
On being told by a prospective employer that he needed higher qualifications, Mike embarked on a PhD in gas phase reaction mechanisms, subsidising himself by working for the UCL residence office. His research introduced him to computers, primarily using an IBM 360/65 but also an ICL 4/50 and various small analogue machines to model reaction mechanisms.
The PhD went unpublished after he was informed that he was over-qualified by prospective employers, but by now he was happily ensconced in the residence office. In 1981, on the death of his predecessor, Mike was appointed head of student accommodation.
As well as managing the accommodation portfolio, Mike also designed and implemented a computerised student record system. Having whiled away many hours attending to punched card records processed by the mainframe IBM 360, he introduced minicomputers and later the first PCs to the college, to cope with the thousands of records of students requiring accommodation and summer lets. Mike was supported by a very dedicated band of staff in the office and lived for and loved his job.
In 1976 he married Sheila Lewis, and soon, with two daughters – my sister, Claire, and me – they moved to Wivelsfield Green, Sussex. Living in an old smallholders’ cottage, Mike developed a “degree of competence” (his own words) in many of the building trades required to renovate it – including the installation of a gas range and the re-wiring of the whole building while commuting back and forth to London and working long hours in the office.
On his retirement in 1997, and separated from Sheila, Mike dedicated much of his time to work as a director of the small private estate where he now lived in Lambeth, advising tenants and owners with regard to housing and maintenance matters.
He pursued his interest in computers as a volunteer beta tester of Windows operating systems and used his skills online to help other users solve computer problems. Always thinking out of the box, once he had a sniff of a solution he would follow it doggedly until he found it. Microsoft took note and subsequently named him as a Most Valued Professional (MVP), a designation he held for many years. He became a respected member of a close-knit online community of MVPs from around the world.
Mike is survived by Sheila, Claire and me.
