Peter Turnbull, Dean of Birmingham Business School 2000-2004

Peter Turnbull came to Birmingham Business School in 1999 after spending most of his academic life at UMIST where he was Professor of Marketing. He had been identified by our then Head of School, John Samuels, to be his successor. Peter founded the Department of Marketing here and launched the MSc Marketing course which has grown immensely since its foundation.  He was Head of the Business School from 2000 to 2004 and during his tenure he managed to acquire University House after a series of lengthy “conversations” with the then Vice Chancellor and the senior management team of the university. The School had to borrow £20m to refurbish the existing building and add the new teaching block. We moved into UH in 2004. Previously, the School was located in the Ashley Building on campus, Winterbourne and Priorsfield on Edgbaston Park Road.

Academically, Peter was a founding member of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group in the early 1980’s which delivered some great research into the foundations of what we now call relationship marketing. Peter was a proud, straight talking Yorkshireman who, ironically, spent most of his working life in Lancashire. He supported Manchester United at football and Yorkshire for cricket and was a huge fan of Rod Stewart. Peter will be remembered for the generosity of his spirit, his concern for the well-being of staff, his sense of fun and his immense contribution to the development of the school.