J.H.D. (Howard) Borsden (FS 67-71)

Trevor Whitwell (FS 66-72) has submitted the following:

“It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of my very good friend Howard (Boris) Borsden on 23 November 2012 in Rio de Janeiro. Howard was born there in 1953 of Welsh/Brazilian parents, but was educated in the UK, leaving St Bees in 1971.

He subsequently completed an HND in Business Management at what is now the University of Lancaster before becoming an articled clerk at Edward Rawcliffe & Co. From 1978 to 1984 he was a financial advisor to the UK government and financial consultant to clients in the Middle East before forming his own financial services company in 1995 based in France and Switzerland. He then opened an offshoot of this in Brazil in 2007. Both Peter Martland (FS 67-72) and myself kept in touch with Howard, and we were shocked to hear of his sudden death from a very short illness. Howard was a friendly, cheerful and hard working man who enjoyed his life to the full. He leaves behind his wife Liz. As my best friend for 45 years, who always made me smile, I will miss him terribly.”

Sarah Cockburn-Price (a relative) adds:
“Howard had not been unwell. He had just arrived in Brazil (where he had a house in the rain forest) from his home near Annecy in the Alps. It is thought that the huge difference of climate affected his chest. Not one to make a fuss, and travelling on his own, he went into hospital to be checked out. He was being treated for pneumonia, but died suddenly as a result of complications with his heart.
When I was a little child, I remember him as a man selling ice cream from a van, which I found impossibly glamorous! Then he left England to set himself up in international finance. He lived in the Oman and for years ran a successful investment company in the Hague. Then he downsized to Geneva with a similar venture, which grew and grew. His arm of the business which he founded in Brazil thrived and he had largely relocated there, reconnecting with a country and its culture where he had spent the first seven years of his life.”