Anton Valentino on behalf of RUMDA old boys, writes:
The last surviving member of the formidable team of full-time lecturers who ran the Department of Architecture at the Royal University of Malta in the early 1970s has sadly passed away.
Michael King, a town planning and architectural conservation expert, and also a fervent lover of the Maltese islands, has died in his home town of Shrewsbury, England.
The team which was brought over from Liverpool by Prof. J. Quentin Hughes in 1969 to literally transform the course of Architecture, each one a respected authority in his own field, included the artist Arthur Ballard, the structural engineer Bill Curtin, the environmental services consultant Duncan Stewart, the acoustics specialist Carl Pinfold, Michael King, the multi-talented architect Peter Richardson, and of course, Quentin Hughes himself.
All these stars have now set. These gentlemen, together with a number of young part-time lecturers with exciting new ideas such as Neil Fozzard and John and Sue McCall, and other outstanding visiting lecturers such as architectural historian Denis Sharp and avant-garde architect Gerald Beech, all of whom are still successfully practising their diverse professions in Britain, had a remarkable effect on the lives of two groups of 20 or so young men who were fortunate enough to register for the course of Architecture in 1969 and 1971.
King, or Mickey as he was known by all his friends, was at the time a bright and clever young protégé of Quentin Hughes, who was selected by the master to come to Malta.
And Quentin Hughes certainly knew how to choose his collaborators.
Apart from his profound understanding of urban planning concepts, something which the so-called planners presently forging the physical characteristics of the Maltese islands seem to sadly lack, Mickey impressed all of his students by his down-to-earth approach to architecture and indeed to life itself. He was articulate in his views on urban planning without being offensive to anyone, in spite of the threat of deterioration of Malta's urban fabric which was already looming on the horizon at the time.
He was kind and generous in a quiet and gentle way with all his students and friends. Mickey also grew to love Malta and the Maltese way of life, and regularly visited the islands after the end of his term here, always making it a point to meet as many of his former students and their families as he could.
On behalf of all my colleagues from the old Royal University of Malta Department of Architecture (RUMDA) days, I salute Mickey and indeed all those who went before him. Wonderful memories of them will persist in the professional and the personal qualities of the architects whose lives were enriched by their presence.
Mickey played an important role in a magnificent, albeit short-lived, era in the history of Maltese architectural education, and my deepest sympathies go to his wife Mary and son Marcus.