Mike Wilson obituary

My friend Mike Wilson, who has died aged 82, was a well-respected figure in the marketing world. His first textbook, Managing a Sales Force, was published in 1970, and The Management of Marketing in 1980, works which, together with numerous journal articles, established his reputation as an expert in the field.

Born in Rothwell, West Yorkshire, the second son of Thomas Wilson, a district sanitary inspector, and Blanche (nee Dunne), Mike attended the local grammar school and continued his studies at Manchester University, graduating in 1959 with an honours degree in geography. Our close friendship dated from our school and university years together.

After graduation Mike moved to London to join the Ford Motor Company, where he eventually took charge of commercial vehicle marketing in Britain. He met Danny (Diana) Pettit, through a mutual friend, and they married in 1962. The same year he joined the staff of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and, in 1963, became director of residential studies in the Institute’s College of Marketing. The following year, wishing to offer a more specific training to industry, he formed his own firm, Marketing Improvements Ltd, which was soon providing training for more than 200 companies throughout the world.

Following the company’s expansion into Europe and Asia, Mike became president of MI Europe SA, a market consultancy and training group operating from offices in London, Brussels and Singapore. In the mid-1990s he was appointed visiting professor of marketing at Cranfield School of Management in Bedfordshire.

Mike retired in 2000. He was a keen sportsman, playing tennis into his 80s, and had a great love of writing and drawing, illustrating a book of childhood memories he wrote for his grandchildren.

He is survived by Danny, their three children, Simon, Vicky and Emmeline, and nine grandchildren.