Ian H. Wilson

1923 - 2014
Ian H. Wilson, 90, Futurist

by T. Dorian Dawson

Few seeing him perform on stage suspected that this lanky Englishman drafted strategy for one of the nation's major corporations. More impressively, he did so from a unique vantage point: the future.

"Ian Wilson [was] one of the truly great pioneers in business futurism," said Arnold Brown, chairman of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc..

On April 28 Wilson died at his home in San Rafael, California. Cause of death: the Parkinson's disease he battled for a decade. An internationally recognized authority on scenario planning, he produced several books on the subject. Among these were The New Rules of Corporate Conduct and The Scenario Planning Handbook (co-authored with Bill Ralston).

Born an only child in Harrow, England, Ian lived for a time in Ceylon and Yemen, where his father's engineering career brought the family. When WW II broke out, he interrupted his studies to enlist. Rising to the rank of captain in the army's signal core, he participated in the Invasion of Normandy and later sustained a battlefield rifle wound. At war's end he completed his MA in Classics and English Literature at St. John's College, Oxford, where he crewed and joined The Mummers, the university's theater troupe.

While working as organization and methods consultant for Imperial Chemical Industries, Ian met a Westport, CT woman studying at the Theater School of Bradford Yorkshire. On St. Patrick's Day of 1951 he wed Page Hedden in Norwalk, CT before the couple returned to England. A year later Page gave birth to the first of five daughters on the day Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne.

In 1954, Ian immigrated to the US. While Page raised children and honed her crafts as actor and puppeteer in Westport, Ian launched a 25-year career at General Electric, NYC. As part of the company's strategic planning staff, he established its corporate "futures studies" group.

An active local and national volunteer, Ian served as Unitarian church school director, PTA president and as United Way's Environmental Scan and Strategic Process Task Force member. His acting and directing at the Westport Community Theater also received rave reviews.

In 1980 Page and Ian divorced. Ian relocated to California to become senior management consultant with SRI International. In 1993, he left to pursue research, writing and consulting as the principal of Wolf Enterprises. He also acted as senior editor for Planning Review, while serving on the boards of other professional journals.

In 1994 Ian married poet and writer Adrianne Marcus in San Rafael, where the couple took up residence. Together they pursued passions for travel, fine food, art collecting and dog breeding. In 2009 Adrianne succumbed to cancer. A year later the disease claimed Ian's daughter Ellen, a long time New York photographer, as well.

Page, daughters: Rebecca, Dori, Holly and Alexandra; stepdaughters, Stacey, Shelby and Sarah; fifteen grandchildren and a trio of wind hounds survive Ian. Through them he now moves into the future he long labored to draw into our present.