OBITUARY: Mike Marshall - sportsman, teacher and businessman

Many will remember Mike as a Leicester Tigers rugby player and afterwards a real stalwart of Melton Mowbray Rugby Club.

Generations of pupils recall his lessons at the town’s old Sarson High School, where he worked for 20 years and was head of art and design.

But lots of other people will have fond memories of taking skiing holidays abroad with his company and sun-soaked stays at his Portugal property.

Mike suffered ill health in recent years and sadly he passed away aged 75.

His son, Ben, said: “Dad was a massive, big-hearted personality.

"He was a driven adventurer, maverick and leader who succeeded in anything he set his mind to.

"He had a positive impact on everyone he met, shaping and influencing so many lives.”

Mike was born in Leicester in 1949 and by the time the family moved to Ragdale he was playing rugby for school and Syston RFC, winning selection for the county under 19s.

Aged 19, he went to Cardiff College to study PE but changed to the art course – wife-to-be Sue was a fellow student and the couple met at a dance.

Mike, who was known as an old-school number eight who took no prisoners, played for the college rugby first XV alongside Gareth Edwards and JJ Williams, who went on to become legends with Wales and the British Lions.

He played top level rugby for Richmond after leaving college and, in 1972, Mike fulfilled a lifelong dream by representing Southern Counties against the New Zealand All Blacks. The game was broadcast on TV and he swapped shirts with iconic All Blacks scum-half, Sid Going.

After moving to Baldocks Lane in Melton, he joined Leicester Tigers in the old amateur days, playing over 32 times and scoring eight tries over three years before a serious knee injury ended his playing days at Welford Road.

Mike joined Melton Rugby Club the following year and went on to play for the first team until the age of 42 and the Vets until he was 55.

He joined Sarson School in 1975 and took early retirement at the age of 50 – he was a talented artist and exhibited and sold his work.

His life took another twist when he set up the Mike Marshall Ski Club in 1990 after taking a two-year sabbatical from Sarson.

He gave many local people their first taste of a skiing holiday and the success of the venture led him to buy land at then undiscovered French resort of Morzine and build a chalet which would house clients for Simply Morzine.

Mike later built a holiday home in The Algarve for Simply Salema. His sons Ben and Gareth now run the businesses.

He was married to Sue for 53 years and the couple also had another son, Daniel.

He leaves grandchildren Joseph, Edward, Bonnie, Darcey, Bertie, Eve and Olive.

A funeral service will be on Friday October 4, at 1.30pm at St Mary’s Church, Melton, followed by a private cremation at Rushcliffe Oaks, in Nottinghamshire, at 3.45pm.