Michael Laxton

Born: October 22, 1935, London

Died November 20, 2014.

Mike Laxton, who has died aged 79, was a social worker who gave much to the quality of the care of vulnerable and challenging children in England, Scotland and Ireland.

In the early 70s, he ran the influential Leicester Family Support Unit for children and families. His management in Leicester was inspirational to those with whom he worked.

His next port of call was Scotland where he acted as one of several advisers to the Scottish Office on the development of social work in Scotland, particularly services in the more deprived areas in the west of the country. Scotland was open to new ideas and he was one of those who contributed knowledge and experience.

He was largely responsible for ensuring that secure accommodation in Scotland meant secure care. He was not, however, a born civil servant; at times he was too personable and too direct. He knew how to survive, how to push forward the work that he was interested in, but he had little time for pomposity, the ceremonial.

After retirement he remained productive. Phase 3, his consultancy practice, kept him busy for a good 10 to15 years. Many have been grateful for his work, not least government agencies in Ireland, where the Catholic Church had withdrawn from the care sector. Phase 3 was something he was able to share with Rosey, his second wife. He and Rosey had very different skills sets. He could focus on the bigger picture and use his personal skills to inquire and interrogate; she was for detail, organisation and methodology. They made a formidable partnership.

Born in London, he had a number of passions in his life, Liverpool FC and the English cricket team among them. He also loved to cook and entertain at home in Kilchattan Bay, on the Isle of Bute. Alex and Tim, his children with Rosey, and their partners Anna and Jo, were a source of great joy.

In personal relationships as in work, he was loyal, compassionate, enthusiastic and unfailingly good-humoured. He was a giver, not a taker. He was also profoundly brave. Though clearly ill himself, he cared devotedly for Rosey in her battle with cancer. His own illness began when he had an operation to replace a heart valve just before Rosey entered her final months. What his doctors did not recognise at the time was that his heart was being affected by a liver condition. Earlier this year, they did make a definitive diagnosis and, at the age of 79, he was offered the option of a slow decline or the replacement of three further heart valves. He faced that challenge as he had faced all the other challenges in his life. He was too active and passionate to sit in his window in Kilchattan Bay and watch the world go by. He was not that kind of man.

Sadly, Mike did not survive the operation and his family, friends and colleagues have lost - by any definition - a thoroughly good man.

John Bishop