Obituary

Andrew was a proud Man of Kent.  

He was born on the 14th June 1961, in a village just outside Maidstone. He was the first son of Jack and Christine, joined just over three years later by his brother Peter.  After a peripatetic first few years, moving as his father’s career developed - Naples Italy, Cardiff and Macclesfield - the family final settled back in Maidstone, where he made life-long friendships during his senior school years.

From Maidstone Grammar School he went on to study Business and German at Aston University where he met Rosaleen.  They had a lifetime bond, not least because they were born on the same day in 1961. Andrew joined Hewlett Packard as a graduate trainee in September 1983. He and Rosaleen were married in 1987 and had two daughters, Laura and Aisling, and a growing number of grandchildren.

Andrew was a great family man enjoying the company and friendship of his brother and many cousins in Eastbourne and Gloucestershire.  He became an important and much loved part of the Skehan family, and never once failed to give his love and unending support to Siobhan, Caitlin and Patrick when their parents, Brendan and Maxine, were tragically killed in 1990.  They and their own children are very much part of the Hubbard family.

Work was a big part of Andrew’s life. He left HP in 1990 to found his own company, X-Team, a business process testing company, prominent in the Utilities sector, in 1990. He sold the company to Compaq in the late 1990s, setting up a Customer Intimacy-based consultancy, Closer Partners, that worked on significant projects at O2, T-Mobile and The World Bank. In 2006, with his business partner Gareth Cadwallader, he acquired a Life and Pensions Solutions company, Airas Intersoft Limited, which traded as AI-London until it was sold to Lumera in 2022. He is remembered by his work colleagues as a great collaborator and supporter of young talent with a truly optimistic, ‘can do’ attitude which sometime left them speechless – one thing Andrew could never be accused of!

Andrew also had a love for music, teaching himself to play the guitar in his youth, left-handed in the style of Paul McCartney and taking up piano lessons as an adult. He loved sharing his varied musical tastes with his family and enjoyed live concerts right up until last year.

Andrew led a very full life, with family, work, social and sporting commitments. The day was never too short to stop him joining in on as many things as possible, encouraging others to join in and to have the most fun as often as possible. Football with the Wrecks on a Thursday evening and EPDs on a Tuesday were often the highlight of his week. The friendships he made through his work and social life were so strong and evidenced by his friends’ ceaseless commitment to supporting Andrew and his family through the challenges of suffering from MND, with frequent visits and messaging.

Rosaleen, Laura and Aisling very much hope you can join us on the 9th June.