Rick Mather's friends were many and very fortunate, and he was unfailing in his welcome, in the frank integrity of his responses and the richness of his thinking – about life as well as architecture, gardens and his vision of a modern city. His appearance of reticence did not conceal powerful passions, both political and aesthetic. These were expressed with both wry wit and fire: Rick's concern for cities as places for people to live in was paramount and unswerving, and he was a fund of information about vested interests and official government moves to privatise space, destroy the habitat and ignore the well-being of poorer people. He had a profound vision of social, urban co-existence and a horror of the growth of gated communities.
I am proud to have introduced Rick and David, 25 years ago, and to have been a witness to their civil partnership. David's love and expertise in old master drawings and paintings, and his knowledge of museums, drew Rick into a new sphere.
In the south of France, Rick transformed a rather dark ruinous cottage into a light-filled airy vessel which seemed to float out over his garden towards the sky and the sea. A true plantsman, he showed me the last time I saw him how he had moved one of his amazing spiky globe yuccas, to secure the view down to the sea. He was a most lovable man – a unique figure of integrity and charm – and his loss is deeply felt.