Malcolm Deering, a regular contributor to Professional Pensions, died on 31 May aged 69.
Deering was born in Eltham in 1947 and had a long career in the pensions industry, starting in the pension documentation department of the life office National Provident Institution (NPI) in 1965.
He progressed to work in senior technical roles in the London offices of Sedgwick, which is now part of Mercer, and Buck Consultants, the firm now known as Conduent.
Latterly he spent 15 years as technical director at Business Service Plus, a boutique consultancy run by his friend the late Leo Liew, with whom Deering had worked at Sedgwick.
Deering's quiet consideration, intellect and professionalism earned the respect of many colleagues and clients alike.
In retirement Deering spent his time pondering and passing public comment on the big pension conundrums of the day, notably ruminating in Professional Pensions - and few people have had more letters published in these pages.
Deering was a master of posing awkward questions, including to several suitably bamboozled pensions ministers.
He also felt his voluntary work for The Pensions Archive Trust was time well spent, so that younger pension professionals might learn from the industry's past successes and failures.
His wise counsel and problem solving ability will be greatly missed.
Andrew Hawley is pensions manager at Claisse St Vincent, a firm of independent financial advisers based in Southampton. He worked with Malcolm for 17 years, eventually became his pension adviser after he retired.
