Michael Todhunter was a long-time supporter of the MSM Trust. His father Brigadier E. J. Todhunter was held at Campo 12, Castello di Vincigliata, Fiesole. and moved at the time of the Armistice in September 1943 to the Monastery of Camaldoli. For the next eight months he lived with a family in the nearby hills (becoming godfather to their son) and assisted the local partisans.
Having completed his education and his National Service in the then XIth Hussars, Michael pursued a career in finance. He was a familiar figure in the City of London where he worked until his retirement. Throughout his working life he found time to support a number of charitable causes. Most notably, he Chaired the Board of Trustees at Great Ormond Street Hospital for 15 years, overseeing their hugely successful ‘Wishing Well Appeal’.
On retiring, he moved to manage the Swire Charitable Trusts, where he worked until 2022. This broadened the scope of wonderful causes in which he became invested and would work tirelessly to not only provide monetary support, but also to broaden the depth of their support through collaborative fundraising efforts. Michael was Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire.
Michael’s sense of responsibility to his family was his major motivational force, probably stemming from the fact that when his father went overseas to fight in the war, he drummed into Michael (then aged 6) that he was in charge of his mother and three sisters, something he took very seriously. His sense of loyalty to his family and his friends was legendary. His youngest friend at the age of 5, his oldest nearer 100! He will be missed by them all, and in particular by his wife Caroline (to whom he was married for 64 years), his two daughters and son, and six grandchildren.
Nicola Dunoon Duncan
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