In July 1939 Stephanie Shirley arrived, at the age of five together with her nine-year-old sister Renate, in Britain as a Kindertransport child refugee, and recognized how lucky she was to have been saved.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,073 |
15 Facts About Stephanie Shirley
2.
Stephanie Shirley was placed in the care of foster parents living in the Midlands town of Sutton Coldfield.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,074 |
3.
Stephanie Shirley was later re-united with her biological parents, but said she "never really bonded with them".
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,075 |
4.
Stephanie Shirley took evening classes for six years to obtain an honours degree in mathematics.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,076 |
5.
Stephanie Shirley adopted the name "Steve" to help her in the male-dominated business world, given that company letters signed using her real name were not responded to.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,077 |
6.
Stephanie Shirley served as an independent non-executive director for Tandem Computers, The Atomic Energy Authority and the John Lewis Partnership.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,078 |
7.
Stephanie Shirley retired in 1993 at the age of 60 and has since focused on her philanthropy.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,079 |
8.
Stephanie Shirley received her BSc in 1956 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours for services to industry; Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to information technology.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,080 |
9.
Stephanie Shirley was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of Birkbeck College in 2001.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,081 |
10.
Stephanie Shirley has instigated and funded research in this field, for example through the Autism Research Centre led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and via Autistica.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,082 |
11.
In 2003, Stephanie Shirley received the Beacon Fellowship Prize for her contribution to autism research and for her pioneering work in harnessing information technology for the public good.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,083 |
12.
In 1991, Stephanie Shirley was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Buckingham, since then she has been honoured by the University of Cambridge, in 1994 by Solent University and 28 other UK Universities.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,084 |
13.
Stephanie Shirley Foundation, based in the UK, was set up by Stephanie Shirley in 1986 with a substantial gift to establish a charitable trust fund which spent out in 2018 in favour of Autistica.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,085 |
14.
From May 2009 until May 2010, Stephanie Shirley served as the UK's Ambassador for Philanthropy, a government appointment aimed at giving philanthropists a "voice".
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,086 |
15.
In 2012, Stephanie Shirley donated the entirety of her art collection, including works by Elisabeth Frink, Maggi Hambling, Thomas Heatherwick, Josef Herman and John Piper to Prior's Court School and the charity Paintings in Hospitals.
| FactSnippet No. 2,110,087 |