Neil Grainger, who sadly passed away on Saturday, March 15, once said that he had crammed many lives into his 44 years. After being diagnosed in 2012 with a malignant melanoma and shortly afterward finding out he was also HIV-positive, he continued to fight for himself but also — out of consideration and a sense of justice — for others. This was a recurring theme in his short life.
Grainger, born in Smethwick in England's West Midlands, was a lifelong West Bromwich Albion fan and continued to support them even when living abroad. He attended Bristnall Hall High School in the mid-1980s and went on to chalk up a diverse list of jobs in his 20s, including time as a greengrocer in the Lancashire town of Chorley, a barman in Spain and as a personal assistant in London.
His close friend Rob Orton, who first met Grainger in his flamboyantly named grocery, Tutti Frutti, said he was always fun-loving and looking for a new adventure. One day, out of the blue, Grainger told Orton he had decided to close his shop and study Japanese and Chinese. Grainger turned out to be a natural linguist and, having spent a life-changing year studying abroad at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, he graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston in 2003.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.