Stephen James Wise 1950-2022

Stephen Wise passed away at home on 4 August 2022 following a ten-year battle with cancer.

Stephen was born in Forest Hill, South London, in August 1950. He was the youngest child of Ralph Wise, a solicitor, and his wife Elsie, and a brother to their elder son, Andrew. The family moved to Orpington, Kent, where Stephen attended the local primary school until the age of eight. He then continued his education at St. Dunstan’s College, Catford, travelling there by train from the family home.

From an early age, and throughout his life, Stephen enjoyed understanding how things worked and repairing items that weren’t working properly. As a result of these interests, his father thought that he would become a car mechanic.

In his final year of sixth form, Stephen obtained a place at Downing College, Cambridge, to read Chemical Engineering. He then spent the rest of that academic year working for the Gas Council London Research Station in Fulham. It was at Cambridge that he met his future wife, Patricia.

Stephen graduated at the time of the oil crisis in 1973, when jobs in chemical engineering were scarce. However, an acquaintance of his father told him about patent work. He subsequently took a job with Boult, Wade & Tennant in London, where he obtained his European patent and trade mark attorney qualifications. During his time at Boult, Wade & Tennant, Stephen reached another milestone in his life, marrying Patricia in 1979.

After 11 years at Boult, Wade & Tennant, Stephen decided that he needed a fresh start and in 1984 he joined a small firm in Croydon, South London, called Raworth Moss & Cook. This move may have been assisted by Stephen’s lifelong interest in playing golf, an interest that he shared with Raworth’s senior partner. Four years later, he became a partner, with overall responsibility for the trade mark department, and in 2000 he became joint senior partner.

I met Stephen in 2003 when he gave me my first position as a trainee patent attorney at Raworth Moss & Cook. One of the first things that I noticed about Stephen was his height (he was 6ft 5ins tall). This meant that when I joined him on client visits or trips to the EPO, I often found myself struggling to keep up with his long stride pattern! Stephen was always generous with his time when training me, despite his other responsibilities within the firm. He was a very exacting supervisor, which definitely kept me on my toes. In later years, I continued to consult Stephen, who was always happy to discuss a particularly difficult legal or technical problem.

Following the financial crisis of 2007, it was with a heavy heart that Stephen reached the conclusion that Raworth Moss & Cook could no longer continue as an independent entity. The firm was sold to Murgitroyd in 2009. Stephen continued to work at Murgitroyd until his retirement in 2012, ensuring that there was a smooth transition of staff and clients to the new firm.

Gordon Stark, CEO at Murgitroyd, described Stephen as ‘the personification of the traditional patent attorney… knowledgeable, diligent and abundantly professional. Stephen set a high standard for others to follow and was very giving of his time, knowledge and experience to support colleagues to attain that standard’. A longstanding client, Paul Lyon, former Director of R&D at Luxfer MEL Technologies, recalled his ‘friendly and helpful approach’, describing him as ‘a kind and honourable man’.

Stephen maintained an active life outside of work. He was a member of both the Patent Agents’ Golfing Society and the Golfing Society of the Croydon & South London Chamber of Commerce. He enjoyed playing tennis, and also alternated between being secretary and chairman of a local swimming club. He took an interest in the natural world, belonging to one group that maintained a nearby pond, and another that looked after a local area of woodland. After retiring, he became secretary of the local allotment site where he and Patricia had rented a plot since 1998, liaising with the council and showing potential plot holders the site.

Stephen is survived by Patricia and their three children, Matthew, Richard and Catherine.

Paul Andrews, Murgitroyd

& Company