My friend Steve Chinn, who has died aged 62 after a long illness, was the global planning director for Saatchi & Saatchi before going on to pursue other interests in politics, philosophy and medicine.
Born in Coventry, to Catherine (nee Fleck) and Robert Chinn, a chartered accountant, Steve was educated at Bablake school in the city before going to Lancaster University to study sociology. He graduated in 1981, and the following year married a fellow student, Dee Amy.
In his early 20s Steve was an active member of the Labour party, and led their campaign management team in Coventry. He was also an accomplished athlete. A black belt 4th dan at judo, at the age of 22 he was a single win away from representing Britain in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
After leaving university, Steve joined the NOP Research Group as a graduate trainee then, from 1985, worked for the advertising agency BBDO in London as a strategic planner. In 1992 he was appointed as director of planning at Saatchi & Saatchi, eventually moving to New York to revitalise its US business. Returning to the UK in 2000, he worked for McCann-Erickson as its worldwide director of strategy.
From 2007, Steve became a freelance strategic consultant in order to support Dee in her academic career, moving to Oxford for her to teach at Oxford Brookes University, then Stirling, when she began lecturing in the university’s film and media studies department. As a member of the department I got to know Steve soon after, and we worked together on several projects.
Steve also had a long-standing connection with the humanist associations in the UK. He served as general secretary of the Humanist Society Scotland (2012-13) and later joined the society’s board as one of their trustees.
In 2013, Dee was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and she died two years later. Motivated by the experience of caring for her, Steve embarked on a PhD that focused on the work of consultant oncologists. His aim was to arrive at a better understanding of their working practices and to develop practical ways of supporting the wellbeing of this professional group. He started his fieldwork for the PhD in 2017, but in December 2018 was diagnosed with a serious illness that affected both lungs and kidneys.
Despite this adversity, Steve continued to work on his PhD as well as participating in the efforts of the Stirling4Europe group in the run-up to Brexit, and teach in the division of communications, media and culture at Stirling.
Not only did he manage to retain a positive attitude to life, he became an inspiring member of the postgraduate community. As one friend said: “His natural inquisitiveness, sharp intellect … and compassionate nature made him both a wonderful member of the faculty and a genuinely top researcher.”
The University of Stirling has awarded Steve a posthumous PhD.
He is survived by his father, Robert, and his brothers, Andy, Paul and Andrew.
