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Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon McCAFFERY, Peter Born: 1954 04 04 Died: 2014 07 29 Architect BArch (distinction) 1978 (Kwa-Zulu Natal) Peter George McCaffery, born in Mauritius on 04 April 1954, passed away in Hong Kong on 29 July, 2014, after a long and courageous fight with cancer. He leaves behind his beloved wife and friend, Mara, and a legion of very good friends. Small in stature, large in life, he was a most courteous man with impeccable manners and a droll sense of humour. He stood out immediately as someone who carried himself along his chosen path with integrity, dignity, modesty and a singular passion for doing things thoroughly: for example, using his love of yachting as an example, he would always Keep the boat shipshape, i.e. in credit, for the time when a crisis arose such as a withdrawal. That was a motto for him. 'Make it happen' was another - he lived by them and they served him well. He followed his profession with accuracy, directness and vigour, graduating with distinction in 1978 and formed the practice, McCAFFERY WILKINSON & LITTLE, together with Pete WILKINSON and Ian LITTLE in 1990. Rather than run through the many achievements of his professional life, one period stands out for me. On a last visit to Hong Kong, with Peter WILKINSON, to see 'Mac' while he was receiving treatment, (he had moved there after leaving SA in 2001), I discovered that since I had last seen him in 2006 he had grown a small practice, specializing in retail planning, into a 450 strong fully-fledged architectural firm, and had become MD to boot, all in the space of 4 or 5 years. Maybe that's what happens when you live next door to China, India and the Asian Tigers! My abiding memory of him, however, and for many of his friends too, notwithstanding his many professional achievements, will always be 'Mac', standing behind the wheel of his 'Roxanne', with a crooked grin and a steely eye, watching the sails, ordering a tweak here and a shift there, calling the odd play, the exemplar of what a skipper should be: calm, decisive and competitive. May he rest in peace. (Obituary, Miles PENNINGTON, KZNIA Journal. Vol. 39, Issue 2, 2014) (Obituary submitted by Karlien van Niekerk, Senior Technical Assistant, Pretoria School of Architecture)