Steve Shirley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steve Shirley
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Shirley in 2013
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Vera Stephanie Buchthal
16 September 1933 |
| Died | 9 August 2025 (aged 91) |
| Occupation | Businesswoman and philanthropist |
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| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | Rosa Buchthal (grandmother) |
| Awards | FREng (2001) CHM Fellow (2018) |
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Dame Vera Stephanie "Steve" Shirley was a remarkable British businesswoman, a pioneer in information technology, and a generous giver to charity. Born in Germany, she came to Britain as a child refugee and grew up to create a highly successful software company. She is especially known for creating job opportunities for women in technology and for her dedication to helping people with autism.
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Who Was Dame Steve Shirley?
Dame Vera Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, born Vera Buchthal, was an inspiring person who made a huge difference in the world of technology and beyond. She was born in Germany in 1933 and later became a British citizen. She was known for her innovative ideas in computing, her successful business ventures, and her incredible generosity.
Early Life and Journey to Britain
Steve Shirley was born in Dortmund, Germany. Her father was a judge who lost his job because of the Nazi regime. In July 1939, when she was just five years old, Steve and her older sister, Renate, traveled to Britain as child refugees. They were part of a special program called Kindertransport, which helped children escape danger.
She was cared for by foster parents in Sutton Coldfield. Later, she was reunited with her birth parents, but she often said she didn't feel a strong connection with them. Steve believed that the challenges she faced as a child refugee helped her become strong and adaptable throughout her life and career.
Education and First Steps in Tech
After attending a convent school, Steve moved to Oswestry and went to Oswestry Girls' High School. At that time, mathematics wasn't taught at her school. So, she got special permission to take math classes at the local boys' school. She remembered her time in Oswestry as five peaceful and wonderful years after her difficult early experiences.
After finishing school, Steve decided not to go to university right away. Instead, she looked for a job where she could use her math skills. When she was 18, she became a British citizen and changed her name to Stephanie Brook.
In the 1950s, Steve worked at the Post Office Research Station. This was a very exciting time because she helped build computers from scratch! She also wrote computer programs using a very basic language called machine language. To learn even more, she took evening classes for six years and earned a degree in mathematics. In 1959, she joined another company called CDL Ltd, which designed computers.
Building a Company for Women
After marrying physicist Derek Shirley in 1959, Steve decided to start her own software company called Freelance Programmers. She started it with just £6! She had experienced unfair treatment in her previous workplaces because she was a woman. She wanted to create job opportunities for other women, especially those who had families to care for.
Her company mostly hired women. In fact, out of the first 300 staff members, only three were men! This continued until a law called the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it illegal to hire only women. Steve even started using the name "Steve" instead of Stephanie in her business dealings. She found that letters signed with "Steve" got more responses in the male-dominated business world.
One of her team's important projects was programming the black box flight recorder for the Concorde airplane. This shows how important and advanced their work was. Steve also served on the boards of several other big companies and organizations.
She retired in 1993 when she was 60 years old. After retiring, she focused all her energy on helping others through charity work. Steve Shirley passed away on August 9, 2025, at the age of 91.
A Life of Giving Back
Steve Shirley was incredibly generous. She set up The Shirley Foundation in 1986. This charity focused on supporting new and important projects related to autism spectrum disorders, especially medical research. The foundation gave grants and loans to many projects.
Supporting Autism Research
One of the foundation's biggest projects was Prior's Court, a special school for autistic students. It also has a center for young autistic adults. The foundation also supported Autism at Kingwood, which helps people with autism live full lives. Another amazing project was Autism99, the first online conference about autism, which had 165,000 attendees from many countries.
Steve's son, Giles, had autism and passed away at the age of 35. This personal experience made her even more dedicated to helping others with autism. She often spoke at conferences and connected with parents and people with autism.
From 2009 to 2010, Steve was the UK's Ambassador for Philanthropy. This was a special government role where she helped represent and encourage charitable giving. In 2012, she donated her entire art collection to Prior's Court School and another charity called Paintings in Hospitals. She explained that she felt it was important to give back because her own life had been saved when she came to Britain as a refugee. She gave away more than £67 million of her personal wealth to different projects.
Honored for Her Contributions
Steve Shirley received many important awards and honors for her work. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1980, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000, and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2017. These are very high honors given by the British monarch to people who have made outstanding contributions to the country.
In 1987, she received the Freedom of the City of London. She was also the first female President of the British Computer Society from 1989 to 1990. She was recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and received many honorary doctorates from universities.
In 2013, she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by BBC Radio 4. In 2014, the Science Council listed her as one of the "Top 100 practising scientists" in the UK. In 2018, she became a Fellow of the Computer History Museum and was the first woman to win the Gold Medal of the Chartered Management Institute.
Her legacy is also remembered with a blue plaque in Oswestry, where she went to school. In September 2021, a statue by Ian Wolter was unveiled in Harwich. This statue honors the Kindertransport children, like Steve, who arrived at that port.
Books by Dame Steve Shirley
Dame Steve Shirley also shared her incredible story in several books:
- Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story – From Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist (2012, revised 2018)
- My Family in Exile (2015)
- So To Speak (2020), a collection of her speeches.
See also
In Spanish: Steve Shirley para niños
- Arnold Buchthal
- Dina St Johnston
- Rosa Buchthal
- F International
