My friend Adrian Reith, who has died aged 66 of oesophageal cancer, was a radio advertising executive who later founded Street Child United, a charity harnessing football to promote the rights of street children.
Born in Southwick, West Sussex, the youngest child of Elisabeth (nee Walkey), a nursing sister, and the Rev Ivor Reith, a clergyman, Adrian lived in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) until the age of eight. On the family’s return to Britain, his evangelical parents sent him to Christ’s Hospital boarding school in Horsham.
In 1974 he went to Delhi, where he worked in the Dilaram Community, helping western travellers who had become drug addicts on the hippy trail. Later he moved to a similar community in Heidebeek, in the Netherlands. On his return to the UK in 1977 he became art director on a children’s film, Tanglewoods’ Secret.
In 1979 Adrian began working in advertising for Capital Radio and Hobo Radio. With Ian Mactavish, in 1987 he became co-owner of Commercial Breaks advertising agency, based in Soho, London, where he wrote and directed commercials for companies including Guinness, Carphone Warehouse and HMV. Seven years later Adrian and Ian established Jungle, which became a leading post-production recording studio for TV and radio advertising.
In 1989, Adrian married Judy Williams, a coach and writer; they settled in Cambridge and had three daughters. Adrian left advertising in 2006 to become a life coach.
The following year Adrian, Judy and their daughters were among four families who travelled for a month to South Africa with a UK-based charity, the Amos Trust, to see a project, Umthombo, run by former street children and a charismatic English surfer, Tom Hewitt, reintegrating undocumented street children with their families.
Playing beach football with these youngsters proved an epiphany for Adrian. In the months following the visit, in conversations between Adrian and others, the idea of a football world cup for street children emerged.
Adrian persuaded the Amos Trust to back this vision. The first Street Child Football World Cup took place in Durban in 2010, promoting birth registration, access to education, protection from violence and gender equality; it was endorsed by David Beckham, Prince William and Pope Francis. The tournament now takes place in the host country of every football World Cup a few months before the main event. A Street Child Cricket World Cup is being planned in India in 2023. Street Child United is now an independent charity.
With Judy, Adrian wrote a book, Act 3: The Art of Growing Older (2020), trying to inspire those over 50 to reimagine their lives. They also gave Guardian Masterclasses on the subject. Adrian was still delivering life coaching when he became ill in early 2021.
He is survived by Judy, their children, Phoebe, Tilly and Rosie, and his sisters, Meriel and Angela.
