Dear Fellow Members and Friends of SATA,

I write to inform those of you who have not already heard, of the very sad news that Chris Rogers died last week. As you may have known, Chris had been quite ill for over a year, although he kept working for SATA right up until a couple of weeks before he died. He had been living at home, cared for by his family, right up until he moved to a nursing home last month.

Chris had a distinguished career in the motor trade, and held senior marketing positions with Michelin and Honda before retiring. At around that point he joined the SATA committee, and when the organisation of the SataDay conference (around 2006, I think) was under threat due to the loss of our secretary of the time, Chris stepped in and organised it with complete professionalism.
After the Conference, he offered himself, and the Committee gladly agreed, to take on the role of Managing Secretary. The rest, as they say, is history. He made the role his own, and greatly extended the reach of SATA, always presenting a professional and knowledgeable face of the organisation. Many people from across the wider respiratory environment have already commented how much they appreciated working with him.
All of us in SATA mourn his passing and send our good wishes and condolences to his family.
The Committee has set in motion the process of finding a successor and we will keep you updated with our progress in this respect. In the meantime we will do our best to keep things ticking over, but I am sure you will appreciate that some matters might take a little longer to be done than has been the norm hitherto.

With best wishes,
Bill Johnston, Chairman, on behalf of the SATA Committee.

Chris with Kath Hope at a Sleep Apnoea event