Obituary - Jan Czerski CEng CEnv CSci FIMMM
Jan Czerski, a long standing stalwart of the plastics industry and a former consultant to the IOM3 Materials Information Service died in June aged 78
Jan Czerski BSc MSc CEng CEnv CSci FIMMM
6 September 1941 - 25 June 2021
Jan Czerski was a long-standing stalwart of the Plastics Industry and had a long relationship with the Manchester Polymer Group (MPG) which was formerly the Manchester Section of the Plastics and Rubber (PRI) and latterly the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) where he worked as a consultant in the Materials Information Service (MIS) following a long career at BASF. Jan died at the age of 78 in Wythenshawe hospital near Manchester on 25 June, following a stroke and a series of infections including Covid-19.
Jan was born on the 6 September 1941 in Strumien, a small village in the south of Poland which was under German occupation at that time. Jan’s family, led by his mother, fled the town as the Soviet Union pushed the Eastern Front back across that region in 1945. Jan’s father had been conscripted to fight for the German army, forced into it along with many other Poles from the region of Silesia. This meant the family were split up during the war but they were lucky, as Jan’s father escaped from the German army and the family were reunited in Italy. The family then travelled to Britain and then Jan’s father fought for the British. The family ended up in a Polish resettlement camp in Doddington near Crewe in 1947. Jan was one of the first from the camp to attend an English-speaking school when he was selected to go to Nantwich Grammar School a couple of years later. Jan lived with his family in the camp until he went to Leeds university in 1960 where he obtained a BSc in Chemistry three years later. He then went to the University of Aston, Birmingham where within another two years he graduated with an MSc in Chemistry and the Technology of Polymers.
All through his working life Jan practised CPD and looked to better himself. Jan first became a member of the Plastics Institute (PI) in 1968 and after the merger to form the PRI he became an FPRI in 1975. When this later merged with the Institute of Metals and the Institute of Ceramics to form the now Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining he became an FIMMM. Jan would have been one of the first Chartered Engineers in 1989, a Chartered Scientist in 2006 and a Chartered Environmentalist in 2007, all awarded through the IOM3. Almost immediately after leaving University, Jan walked into his first job as a Scientist at Shell Chemicals Co Carrington, Cheshire and worked under Colin Benjamin in the Technical Service team. In this role he was responsible for the technical support of customers and end users specifically in the injection moulding industry. Colin said of Jan that he appeared from nowhere having been initially recruited by Shell some six months earlier and seconded to National Plastics in North London. Jan just turned up at Carrington and eventually joined Colin’s team. Jan met his wife-to-be Sue who was a laboratory technician while at Carrington. Colin said that Jan was one of a good breed of people: “a willing volunteer”, and in time he became a member of numerous committees and organisations. One of the projects Jan worked on at the time was thermoplastic structural foams through which the writer, Clive Fenn first became a life-long friend. Jan worked at Shell for 9 years before moving to WCB Plastics Ltd in Winsford where he was the Production Engineering Manager for the injection moulding shop. In 1976 Jan then moved to BASF Plc Plastics Division in Cheadle as BASF’s Market Development Manager and established the Technical Service Group and latterly the Technical Centre with extensive laboratory facilities. Jan was also the principal link to the technical department at BASF’s Headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Jan worked tirelessly in Cheadle until 1997 when he took early retirement and became a consultant.
Jan had numerous connections throughout the European plastics industry and many of his former colleagues and friends have contributed to this obituary. John Blundell, worked with Jan at Shell and again at BASF where Jan was the instigator in getting John the job at BASF wrote, slightly paraphrased. “While at BASF Jan’s boss needed to speak to Jan urgently who was at a dental appointment. Jan’s boss got his secretary to ring Sue (Jan’s wife) to get the dentist’s telephone number and a call was put through to Jan in the dentist’s chair - no one knew the contents of the conversation” – it is left to the readers imagination. Another BASF colleague, Keith Watkinson, who was poached by Jan from RAPRA continues the story. Jan’s boss was a keen walker and liked to spend Sundays in the Lake District, but on occasions of really bad weather he would go to the office in Cheadle. The first his staff would know about it was on Monday morning when they found their desks covered in customer Visit Reports marked “PSM” written in a wide nib pen. The first time this happened to Keith, he asked Jan what it meant to which Jan looked slightly worried and told him it meant ‘Please See Me’. Jan and Keith then spent 20 minutes covering every possible angle trying to work out why. Keith reports some weeks later in response “Jan … ever keen to extend German levels of efficiency to Cheadle, had a rubber ink stamp made saying PSM.”
As well as being a likeable person, known by most technical people in the UK moulding industry, Jan had many contacts which he used to the full and this all helped when he became an independent consultant. One of Jan’s first roles as a consultant was with the IOM3 Materials Information Service. David Arthur, Head of Specialist Support at the IOM3 recalls 'I first met Jan around 1998 when he worked for what was the Materials Information Service (MIS). He took over the running of what was Environet2000 and stamped his mark on making it a successful project. After that he worked with myself and Stuart Preston for many years covering membership and MIS work …. (I spent) many happy days getting to know Jan and the person he was, warm, willing and friendly. I look back on those days with nothing but affection.'
Keith Watkinson reported that as a consultant Jan 'worked with the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) using his knowledge and wide range of contacts to promote new developments in polymers and bridge the gap between Universities and Industry. Jan’s interest in recycling was considerably ahead of the time. Jan was always keen to find and nurture talent and support people’s development. He contributed to many Industry bodies including the British Plastics Federation (BPF), the Plastics Processing Industry Training Board (PPITB) …… his energy, enthusiasm and knowledge will be sorely missed.'
The current Chief Executive Officer of BPF, Philip Law fondly states 'Jan Czerski was certainly a part of the British Plastics Federation’s heritage. He was a longstanding representative of BASF to the BPF since the early 1980’s until his retirement. He was also a Chairman of the BPF’s Environment Committee. Jan was a true gentleman, very modest and always ready to help young people in the industry. We will be very grateful to Jan for his kindness in putting his Polish experience and background at the BPF’s disposal when we began to interact with the Polish market by attending the Plastpol trade fair in Kielce.’’ Around 1978, Jan became a Committee Member of the Manchester Section of the PRI which is now the MPG. Since joining the Committee Jan has been an active committee member of the MPG and has expended much effort in arranging the technical lecture programme in the ’90s and early 2000s. Jan sourced an impressive line-up of speakers on polymer related topics from his extensive contact list in the UK and continental Europe. Jan was elected Chairman of the MPG in 1993 and sat on a number of IOM3 committees including The Polymer Society for a number of years. Jan was awarded the IOM3’s Outstanding Service Award for local societies in 2011 and awarded an Honorary Life Membership of the MPG in 2018 in recognition of his 40 years’ service to the MPG which coincided with him stepping away from active participation when Jan moved into a care home.
During his stay in the care home he received former friends and colleagues and talked of his days in industry and with the Institute. Stuart Patrick, a former MPG Chair and long-standing Committee Member of the MPG and Interim Chair of The Polymer Society, IOM3 since 2018, notes “I visited him occasionally and usually managed a coherent conversation about what was happening in the industry plus the old times …… a memory from me was how Jan disapproved strongly of the ‘standard material specification’ format and style that gave no indication of the processing nature of batch to batch variations.'
On my (Clive Fenn) last visit to the care home with Bryan Denson about a year ago, Jan showed another characteristic that he was well known for, Bryan reflects, 'He was certainly a character and Helen (Jan’s eldest daughter) summed it up by saying that he could be grumpy. I remember our last abortive attempt at seeing him. I felt frustrated at the time having travelled from Yorkshire but accepted that his personality was always like that and it added to his character. I will always remember him for the number of times he kept me waiting for an appointment or the number of times that he changed his mind and just left me in reception. May he rest in peace.... I wonder if God will keep him waiting at the gates before he lets him in?'.
Finally, going back to Jan’s Polish beginnings outside of his professional life, Helen Czerski of whom Jan was particularly proud as a physicist and oceanographer and for her TV presenting role in recent years commented 'as a volunteer my Dad taught Polish at the Saturday School for many years, he was a member of the Polish song and dance group Biesiada and he also did a stint as the Polish community representative at the Manchester Police forum'.
Jan will be sorely missed by all who knew him not least by his two daughters Helen and Irena (fintech specialist), and his former wife and lifelong friend Susan.
Rest in Peace Jan.
For those who may wish to make a donation to the family's’ chosen charity, the preferred charity is Cancer Research UK who over the years Jan supported regularly during his life. Donations may be made through the family's much loved page https://janczerski.muchloved.com/ or through the charity website itself https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/donate
Many thanks to those who contributed to this obituary.
Dr Clive R Fenn CEng FIMMM, Chair, Manchester Polymer Group
