obituaries
Colin Edward Church OBE
January 1940 - March 2021
Colin Church was born in Nairobi in 1940, the second son of Elisabeth and the Rev. Howard Church, who came to Kenya in 1932 as a member of the Church Missionary Society. Much of Colin’s early life was spent in Kigare, on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya, where his father did missionary work, and where his passion for fly fishing began in the mountain streams above Embu, which he pursued throughout his life all over the world. Colin was educated at Kenton College preparatory school and the Prince of Wales School, both in Nairobi. He finished his education at King Edward’s School, Birmingham. After school in the UK, Colin travelled in South America and Europe. It was during these years that he developed his skills in writing and Public Relations. He became a journalist in the early 1960s, starting at the Surrey Advertiser before moving to Reuters as a parliamentary correspondent. After a few years he returned to Kenya, where he joined the Nation Media Group and became editor of the Kenya Farmer. In 1967 he moved into Public Relations, and in 1970 joined Ian Raitt and co-founded the highly successful Church Raitt. In 1975 this merged with another business to become Church Orr & Associates, East Africa’s largest PR consultancy. In 1971 Colin helped to form the Public Relations Society of Kenya to improve the professionalism of the PR sector in Kenya. Today it has some 5,000 members. In 1996 he was elected President of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the first and only Kenyan to have led that global body. Colin was happiest when on safari or fishing, and when he retired in the late 1990s, Colin devoted the rest of his life to protecting Kenya’s wildlife and mountain forests, becoming one of East Africa’s most renowned conservationists. Fittingly, what was to be his final project, was the creation of the Chemususu Fly Fishers’ Organisation together with brother Tony, in the forests north of Eldama Ravine. Colin’s dedication to wildlife conservation came to the fore in the Aberdare National Park when, as Chairman of the Management Committee from 2000 to 2012, he led the Rhino Ark with the enormous task of fencing and protecting the Water Tower and the endangered species living there. Together with Ken Khule he conceived the Rhino Charge, the annual off-road motor race that raises funds for conservation and has developed into a Kenyan institution. The $1 million a year raised by the Rhino Charge has paid for the 250-mile-long electrified fence surrounding the Aberdare mountain range, to keep poachers out and animals in, and to protect the vital water sources. After the completion of the fence in the Aberdares Colin became involved in other projects to protect important areas of mountain forest, including fencing off the whole of Mount Kenya, Eburru Forest and the Mau complex and co-founding Eburru Rafiki with his brother Tony. In 2018 he was elected Chairman of the Mara Elephant Project, and he became a key advisor to Big Life Foundation and the Bongo Surveillance Project, in all of which he mentored and www.mcc.co.ke
encouraged young conservationists. Colin also served as the Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) responsible for all wildlife and National Parks in Kenya. During his tenure he implemented new and innovative programmes by developing inter-agency partnerships and creating communication and marketing strategies to bring wildlife conservation into the national consciousness. Colin’s work for and contributions towards conservation, the environment and the community in Kenya, was recognised in 2017 when he was awarded an OBE by HM Queen Elizabeth. Colin was a keen golfer and an accomplished hockey and tennis player. He threw himself into the annual tennis matches against the British High Commission playing for the “Shamba Plate” held one year in Karen, the next at MCC. Other social occasions included the “Fish & Fowl” Balls at the Club and playing cricket and snooker matches for MCC against Ruiru, Gilgil and Karen Clubs. Colin was a great party man thoroughly enjoying every social occasion but most particularly the times he shared with his children and grandchildren. For those who knew him, memories of Colin are mainly full of joy and laughter. He was a stalwart in everything he did and a great friend to have. Warm, generous, and considerate, he excelled in so many fields, and in 2019 he published ‘Mel-elLek’s Mountain’, a book about his cherished Aberdares. He is survived by his wife Nicole and their son Marcus, and his three daughters Antonia Glen, Julie Johnstone, Tanya CarrHartley and six grandchildren. Colin took up Membership of the Club in 1970. He sat on the Club’s Main Committee from 1991-2009; he was ViceChairman from 2009-2011 and Club Chairman from 20112013. Colin became an Honorary Life Member of Muthaiga in 2012. September – November 2021 Muthaiga Country Club
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