For some, childhood trauma provides the spur to later achievement. The computer scientist Stephanie “Steve” Shirley undoubtedly viewed herself this way. She had sworn “never, ever to be poor again”, and that hers should be “a life worth saving”.
Shirley, who has died aged 91, arrived in Britain as a child refugee from nazism at five years old. In the overwhelmingly male-dominated computer industry, she founded a company that pioneered outsourcing and opportunities for women, and reached a shareholder value of $3bn. Believing that “money that isn’t working has a kind of obscenity about it”, she became one of Britain’s foremost philanthropists, supporting research and practice in the care of children with autism.
