Isabelle Szmigin obituary
My wife, Isabelle Szmigin, who has died aged 68 after a series of strokes, was professor emerita of marketing at Birmingham University and an honorary professor at Henley Business School.
She was dedicated to her work in education. Even in retirement she taught consumer behaviour on international MBA programmes in Finland and Denmark, with plans to do the same in Singapore. She also served as chair of the board of trustees for Alcohol Change UK and her guidance helped the charity thrive.
Born in Worcester, Isabelle was the daughter of Josie (nee Gill), a nurse, and Stan Kalinowski, a consultant at the Royal Worcester Infirmary and a Warsaw uprising survivor. She went to Worcester girls' grammar school and studied history of art and architecture under Neil MacGregor at the University of Reading in the 1970s.
Isabelle and I met at a party in 1979 and hit it off, having in common 'awkward' Polish surnames and a love of art and culture. We married in 1980. She encouraged me to pursue an MBA, which then led her to undertake one herself at Cass Business School (now Bayes BS), City, University of London. She gained a distinction; and also won the Stanley Coglan prize, awarded by the Market Research Society in 1984.
After raising our two sons, Isabelle earned a PhD at the University of Birmingham and joined its faculty in 1996, eventually becoming a professor of marketing in 2007 and later deputy dean of the business school. Her academic achievements included more than 90 research papers, the supervision of 15 successful PhDs, and co-authoring a well-regarded textbook, Consumer Behaviour (2022).
Her father's lineage of theologians, doctors and intellectuals, including a bishop of Leipzig, perhaps inspired her unrelenting drive and curiosity. Colleagues remember her as 'positive, constructive and energising'.
Isabelle's influence extended beyond academia. As a BBC Expert Women graduate, she appeared in hundreds of radio interviews and numerous TV segments, offering insights on consumer behaviour. She also contributed articles to the Guardian.
Isabelle's heart was firmly rooted in family life. She delighted in birthdays, holidays and long walks with our border terrier, Jessie. She found beauty in life's simplest joys – morning birdsong, blackberry-picking and her grandchildren.
She is survived by me, our sons, Alexander and Nicholas, and four grandchildren, Maxwell, Lara, Georgina and Constance.
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