Surprised and saddened to hear of Chris’s passing, I share the regret expressed movingly in so many of the tributes here. At Anglian Water in 1987 I first heard of Chris Mellor, a “Finance Bloke” on a Privatisation Working Group. Our paths rarely crossed until 1994. By then the “Finance Bloke” had become Group Finance Director. Huge changes of Anglian’s structure and style took effect in 1994. They affected every employee and, indirectly, many of their families. Some felt excitement, others apprehension and disappointment. New ideas abounded, declaimed with bubbling enthusiasm. Amid the noise and turbulence of business re-engineering and individual behavioural change, Chris seemed to me a pillar of calm and reliability. That was something I appreciated when having to interact with more loquacious and demonstrative colleagues. I learned there was more to Chris than met the eye, including predilections for both meditation and drumming. A contradiction of styles and interests, surely? Perhaps not. A moment’s reflection showed me that my judgment had been premature...think “rhythm”..... Twenty years since I last saw him, a memory of Chris prompts me to learn now, to understand now, more about my friends and neighbours, while we can still share. Peter Stott, former colleague at Anglian Water

We met Chris and Julia soon after our daughters Daisy and Emily met in Reception, and we knew immediately that both families would be very dear friends. Chris was a very friendly and welcoming person, who always showed an interest in others and had an endless supply of amusing stories and anecdotes up his sleeve. His laughter and humour are things that all who knew him will remember. In fact, humour was something which Chris brought in to almost every meeting. One of Diana's favourite memories was how Chris enjoyed musical party games during the Christmas season. One year he handed everyone a differently tuned bell, and then tried to conduct us all to play Christmas songs. Emily remembers another year, at a Halloween party, Chris dressed up as a ghost and walked around outside the house. Patience was another virtue of Chris, and he demonstrated great reserves of it when playing golf with Brian. Despite hitting over 120 in his first round with Chris, Chris nonetheless continued to tolerate Brian on the course for many years, and had suggested another round in the spring after he came home from Papworth. A gentle man who adored his family, Chris had a knack for making everyone feel special. And for that, he will be greatly missed. We were privileged to know him. With much love, Diana, Brian and Emily xxx

Hello Julia, You won’t know me but I wanted to write to you when I heard about Chris’s death to share with you how much I valued him when he worked with me at Doncaster. He was a wise, challenging, supportive and caring man, and he provided me with support in my first role as Turnaround Director. He intervened with the Board and Non-execs internally and with Monitor to get the best outcomes for the Trust and he acted as a mentor for me in the time he was here. I am sure this has been a terrible time for you and the children and his wider family but I wanted to make sure you knew in a smaller way than for all of you, he will be missed and he had a very positive impact on the Trust and on me personally in the time I knew him. Dawn Jarvis, Turnaround Director Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust