Obituary Aidan Kirby 1957-2003

Aidan and I worked together at Wolff Olins. He was the best kind of colleague – funny, clever and efficient, a joy to be with.

Over the past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about Aidan and I get very sad. And then I smile because when I think about Aidan I can’t help smiling. He was that sort of person.

Aidan had a varied career before joining Wolff Olins. When we sat together on trains and planes we talked about our lives.

At one time he went busking around Europe with his violin; ‘on the fiddle’ as he put it. He said the Germans were the most generous. I asked if it was because they appreciated his expertise. He said, ‘No, they gave me money for some more lessons.’

When he was on the shop floor at Rover he learnt a few tricks: ‘Never remove the back seat of a Rover, it’s where the lads used to put their fag ends.’

Clever, thoughtful, tenacious, funny, good natured, good humoured – what a marvellous colleague and friend. Why did he have do die so young?

by Wally Olins

Aidan Kirby, Wolff Olins chief operating officer Asia, died on Wednesday 20 August, aged 46, following a motorbike accident.