obituaries
May 1924 - July 2020
John Atrup Nielsen Royal Danish Veterinary & Agricultural University from where he graduated as a veterinary surgeon shortly after the War.
John Atrup Nielsen has died at the age of 96 after a fall at his home. John was born on the small Danish island of “Bogø,” where, having lost his mother as a small child, and with his father a Captain in the Danish Merchant Navy, away at sea most of the time, he was brought up by his grandmother. During WWII he did not see his father for five years. After completing High School John went to Copenhagen to study at the
After some years of working as a vet, John bought his own practice. He was, by then, married to Ulla and they had two sons, Søren and Lars. However, in the 1950s, the inherited zest for travel made John sell his practice and travel to Oklahoma, US, to work in a large slaughterhouse. This was the beginning of a life lived abroad for John and his family. Working as a veterinary surgeon for FAO he went to Iraq and Somalia. He then took overseas assignments in the Danish Foreign Ministry in countries including India, Kenya and Tanzania where he was appointed Chief of the Danish Foreign Aid office, DANIDA. His last assignment was with ICRC, where he managed a large programme vaccinating cattle in South Sudan, after which, John retired with Ulla to Nairobi. John had two main hobbies - hunting and golf – and he was able to indulge both
Michael Eustace Aronson Mike Aronson was born in Kenya after his parents moved to Nairobi from South Africa. He was a proud Kenyan citizen from Independence and never acquired a second nationality. He did his early schooling at Charterhouse in England and in 1940 he returned to Africa to finish his education at Hilton College in Durban, SA. From there he graduated from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. Mike’s parents divorced in 1943 and he returned to Nairobi to join his father, and learn the coffee trade, but after the War he changed tack and went to study law at Cambridge University. When he returned to Kenya he was appointed District Officer in Embu during the State of Emergency, and was in charge of the notorious Mwea settlement where thousands of Mau Mau freedom fighters were sent to open the modern day irrigation project. Later he was appointed Chief Lands Registrar, working in land administration both before and after Independence, and was closely involved in the rolling out of the land resettlement schemes. 26
Muthaiga Country Club January – March 2021
throughout his travels. John was a very good shot and gathered a fine collection of rare trophies from the many countries he visited. He was a keen member of the Karen Golf Club where he played right into his nineties. John took a great interest in other people and had a fantastic memory for names and events. He was a wonderful raconteur and entertained his family and friends recounting the many exciting events he had experienced during his travels. He told them with his dry Danish humour, which was very amusing. He was a frequent visitor to the Club and would come almost daily to collect his mail and read the newspapers. He also particularly enjoyed Curry Lunch on Sundays. John was a longstanding Member of the Club and he will be missed by his many friends and the staff who knew him. He was a Member for almost 35 years. Jens O. Bang
October 1926 - October 2020
Later, Mike joined Kaplan & Stratton as a partner and it was in land matters that he distinguished himself. He was a member of both the Njonjo Commission on Land and also the Vice Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/ Irregular Allocation of Public Land, which came to be known as the Ndung’u Commission. Mike was married twice - his first wife Marion was American and was the Bureau Chief of ‘Newsweek’ in Nairobi. She died in 1972. Mike married Suzanne, who hailed originally from New Zealand, in 1974. He had no children of his own but ‘inherited’ two stepdaughters, Imogen and Melanie. He was a very good stepfather and was very proud of his great and great-great step grandchildren. Mike joined the Club in 1969 and became a Life Member in 2009. He was a very active and much treasured Member, never afraid to share his views on life in general and the Club in particular in a full, frank and witty manner. In that regard, Mike was a wonderful purveyor of gossip, particularly when it concerned the legal profession,
and was known by some of his closest legal colleagues as the ‘Mine of Disinformation’. He had a very sharp mind and possessed a photographic memory. He could recollect dates and people right up to the end of his life. Mike is survived by his stepdaughters Imogen Rumbold and Melanie Scott and nieces Valerie Botta, Sarah Culhane and nephew Nigel Mathews.
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