Obituaries
School Prefect. But rugby was certainly his major sport and, in addition to playing for the College 1st XV four years running he also won representative honours at schoolboy level with Surrey, Kent, London Counties and England and he also played a few first-class games for Blackheath. After leaving Dulwich, he continued his rugby career for a season with the Old Alleynians, where he much appreciated the advice and guidance he was given. Going on to Bristol University, Roger was talent-spotted by Earle Kirton, the All Black first five-eight, who invited him to join Harlequins. He proudly represented Harlequins for many seasons, arguably reaching his rugby peak when capped for England Under-23. As his playing days drew to a close, Harlequins invited him to become Chairman and in that role he successfully oversaw the transition of the Club into the professional era, after which he became Chairman of the Harlequins Trust. But he never forgot his roots and always supported School and OA rugby when he could. In 2009, he felt that he had sufficient time to devote to the Old Alleynian Football Club, accepting the role of Chairman, where he quickly made his mark through his people skills, wise counsel and ability to drive matters forward. Similarly, he remembered and always spoke fondly of his schooldays, recalling how much Dulwich had done for a boy from Catford, who then was far from well off. On his College application form, the headmaster of Torridon Junior Mixed School wrote prophetically, over 50 years ago, about a boy ‘who will certainly attain distinction in later life’. He was enormously grateful for the ‘Dulwich Experiment’ scholarship that he won, and for the wonderful staff who taught him at the College. After university, where he read Law, Roger qualified as a barrister, but he never practised at the Bar, preferring instead the commercial cut and thrust of merchant banking which he did with County Natwest in the early 1980s. County Natwest was one of the newer merchant banks which was well led by John Padovan, the Chairman, who was an archetypal ‘merchant banker’ with a strong personal presence, good judgment and an attentive attitude to the welfare of his clients. Roger liked and admired John and adopted his approach to business as his own throughout his own career; his unwavering business principle was that clients came first. He spent a few years in New York developing County Natwest’s Corporate Finance business, but Roger was a fiercely independent spirit and was never going to remain with a large corporate employer for the rest of his career. When he returned from New York, he and a former County colleague, Tim Seymour, formed one of the first corporate finance advisory boutiques. The new business was called Stafford, whose clients were principally large private companies, which Roger and Tim ran together successfully for many years. Roger also invested, private-equity-style, in a number of businesses, including some smaller PLCs, inevitably serving as Chairman of many of them.
Roger was a leading light in the bursary appeal process, a member of the Canon Carver Society, and among the first OAs to endow a named bursary. He was also involved, at the Master’s request, in helping him to determine the best way in which to launch a ‘New Dulwich Experiment’ bursary appeal, adapting to the 21st century the extraordinary work of Christopher Gilkes, from which Roger and a whole generation benefited. Roger’s own outstanding contribution was in turn recognised by being made a College Fellow. Roger was a big man in every respect, generous, sociable and with an excellent sense of humour. He was endowed with some exceptional physical and mental qualities but, above all was kind and considerate and a great family man. He had accepted becoming President of the Alleyn Club in 2016, but died before this presidential term could start after an unsuccessful but hard-fought battle against cancer. He is survived by his family who have, fittingly, established the Roger Looker Scholarship Fund, designed to enable talented boys to continue to come to Dulwich regardless of parental ability to pay, like he did. There were many obituaries and tributes to Roger and this obituary is based on these. complemented his musical interests, which included singing in the Christ’s College choir. After graduating, he remained in Cambridge for another year for a PGCE teaching qualification, before his life’s work of teaching and inspiring youngsters began. He started his teaching career at Dulwich College teaching chemistry up to A level, served as a boarding house tutor, started a sixth form cookery course (at a boy’s school), was the popular Scout Leader of Troop IV, jointly ran a sailing club, sang in the College choir, and directed a Scout musical. He was particularly keen on the Scout camps in summer, and ran the first of what were to become annual mountain walking expeditions to Snowdonia during the Easter holiday in 1977. After fourteen successful years at Dulwich, Frank moved to be Head of Chemistry at King’s School, Worcester, for another nine years, before moving on again to become Deputy Head at St Edward’s College, Liverpool. He remained in Liverpool for four years before being appointed Headmaster of Presentation College, Reading, tasked with reversing falling rolls. His charisma and determination, allied with his Francis Joseph Loveder (Staff 1974-88) 21.12.1951 – 02.05.2014 Frank Loveder was educated at Wimbledon College between 1963 and 1969 before going to Christ’s College, Cambridge, to study Natural Sciences, specialising in chemistry and metallurgy. His Metallurgy project on organ pipe alloys
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