Kindertransport survivor who became an IT pioneer dies at 91
Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley was also a renowned philanthropist, donating significant sums to charities helping people with autism, including Kisharon-Langdon
Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley, a kindertransport survivor who went on to become a pioneer in the IT industry and who was famous for her work championing women’s rights as well as her philanthropic support for Autism charities, has died at the age of 91.
Born Vera Stephanie Buchthal in 1933 to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother in Dortmund, Germany, she and her sister left for Britain in July 1939, as two of the close to 10,000 children taken in by Britain prior to the start of World War Two.
In the 1950s, having become a British citizen, she became involved in computer building and coding, gaining a degree in Mathematics via night school classes. In 1959, she launched her own company, Freelance Programmers, in which almost all of the employees – 297 out of the first 300 – were women. Stephanie Shirley, as she was known after her marriage that same year, had experienced cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, and wanted to create a safe environment for female workers. It was at this point that she adopted the moniker of “Steve”, having found that company letters from her using the name “Stephanie” were often ignored. The company operated in this fashion until the advent of the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975.
The success of the company saw the IT pioneer amass a fortune of £150 million. She received an OBE in 1980 for services to industry, a Damehood in 2000 for services to Information Technology, and was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2017 for services to the IT industry and for her philanthropy.
Her only child, Giles, was severely autistic, losing his ability to speak at the age of two. In 1975, after Stephanie had a nervous collapse which saw her admitted to hospital, she and her husband made the difficult decision to institutionalise their son. However, by 1985 it had become clear to her that the treatment he was receiving was unacceptable, and so she brought him home. She would go on to help fund a large number of autism charities, including Kisharon (now Kisharon-Langdon) in the Jewish community. One of her first projects in the field was a care home for severely autistic people near her home in Henley-on-Thames, which housed Giles and a number of other residents. He passed away in 1998 at the age of 35.
In 2019, Dame Stephanie told Jewish News that she would be donating her compensation from the German government given to kindertransport refugees, organised by the Claims Conference, to the Safe Passage charity, “which supports today’s child refugees.”
In her 2012 memoirs Let IT Go, she described why she had given so much to charity, saying: “I do it because of my personal history; I need to justify the fact that my life was saved.”
Keep community journalism free.
Jewish News is free for everyone. No paywall. No barriers. Just trusted journalism for anyone who wants to stay connected to Jewish life in Britain.
If you value that, please support us.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Every day, we report on the issues that matter to our community. We celebrate achievements, support charities, challenge antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are heard more widely.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help us continue to:
- Report on the stories shaping Jewish life in the UK and beyond
- Bring our community together through shared stories, events and campaigns
- Celebrate the people, culture and moments that define our community
- Support organisations doing vital work across Jewish Britain
You can make a one-off donation or become a regular supporter. Every contribution helps keep our journalism free, independent and accessible to all.
If everyone who values Jewish News gave a small amount, it would make a real difference to our future.
