Michael Boddington, an agricultural and environmental consultant who later dedicated his life to charitable work with amputees and people with severe disabilities in Laos, has died at the age of 84.
Early Life and Education
Born near Ambleside in the Lake District, Mike was the son of Lilian (nee Olivia) and Michael, a hill farmer and RAF Spitfire pilot during the second world war. He attended the King's School in Worcester before earning a degree in agriculture at Newcastle University.
Career in Agricultural Consultancy
In 1967, Mike began working at Wye College in Kent as a lecturer in agricultural economics. Five years later, he founded Rural Planning Services (RPS), an agricultural and environmental advisory consultancy. He led RPS until 1982, when he sold the business and established Michael Boddington Associates (MBA), which he headed until its acquisition by Travers Morgan in 1991.
His consultancy work took him across the globe, providing agricultural development advice in the Middle East, South and Central America, and south-east Asia.
Charitable Work in Laos
In 1995, Mike founded Power International, an organisation focused on helping amputees and people with severe disabilities. He frequently visited Laos, where unexploded American bombs from the Vietnam war continue to kill and maim civilians. He established partnership organisations in Laos for rehabilitation and, in 1997, created the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE). COPE specialises in manufacturing professionally fitted prosthetics and rehabilitating disabled people. Today, COPE is managed by local staff and treats approximately 1,500 patients annually.
Mike moved to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, in 2001 and stepped back from his charitable work in 2016. He then built a guest house and rented it out through Airbnb, where guests from around the world appreciated his knowledge, engagement, storytelling, and hospitality, particularly his generous gin-and-tonics.
Honours and Personal Life
In 2010, he was appointed an MBE. Mike was married three times. His first two marriages, to Ruth (nee Barlow) and Jane (nee Parr), ended in divorce. He is survived by his third wife, Xoukiet Panyanouvong, whom he married in 2003, four children—James and Christopher from his first marriage, and Louise and another daughter from his second—and six grandchildren.
