Stephanie Shirley has died

[PermanentTemporary]

RIP to one of the most extraordinary British businesswomen of the 20th century. I knew a bit of her story but this obituary is great.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/11/dame-stephanie-shirley-obituary

Like you OP I knew her name but not much about her, but goodness what an extraordinary and inspirational woman.

She was a trail blazer and made a really positive impact on the voluntary sector in the UK. She’ll be missed.

Ahh, she was an absolute FORCE.

I absolutely loved and admired her. What an inspiration she was.

I read her autobiography a few years back. What a woman! She did loads for autistic people, as well as the trail-blazing feminist programming company

I recommend her appearance on Desert Island Discs. She was as interesting as you'd expect. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00sf7hx

ah..I was named after her..

Absolutely awesome woman. Thanks for the link, I’d not heard that she’d died.

I’m curious now how on earth back when she started women were able to do computer programming from home!
It’s an industry perfect for home working now (I've been writing scientific software since 1995) - my niche isn’t too bad but in general software development has become bafflingly overwhelmingly male.

@MelliC really?? How fantastic!
Thank you for the DID link, about to listen.

@ErrolTheDragon Her autobiography is well worth a read:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313672/let-it-go-by-askwith-dame-stephanie-shirley-ch-and-richard/9780241395493

I think they worked out the programming and punched the cards at home, then sent the punch cards to whoever had the computer. The BBC radio episode linked above mentions it briefly.

I'm sorry to say I didn't know about her but her story is fantastic. Thanks OP.

Yes, that must have been how they did it - unimaginable nowadays that sort of turnaround time, you’d have to be incredibly meticulous.
The programming course in my uni degree around 1980 was on punched cards but at least we didn’t have to put them in the post!

Yes. like Stephanie Shirley, my Mother became a computer programmer in 1960s after completing a Maths degree. She too was a German Jewish refugee. They were a similar age and lived in the Midlands.

Same here thank you for sharing

Thanks for sharing - I had missed that - such a great woman truly inspiring