Sir John Michael Leal Uren OBE (1 September 1923 – 9 August 2019) was a British businessman. He served as the chairman of Civil & Marine from 1955 to 2006. He donated GBP £40 million to his alma mater, Imperial College London, becoming the most generous benefactor in the College’s history.^[1]

Michael Uren was born on 1 September 1923.^[2] He was educated at Sherborne School and Imperial College London, from which he graduated in 1943 with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power.^[1]

Uren founded Civil & Marine, a manufacturer of ground granulated blast-furnace slag, in 1955.^[3] In the 80’s his company developed the technology that allowed them to make high-quality cement from blast-furnace slag, a waste product of the steel industry.^[2] Uren and his business partner John Hobbins turned this invention into a profitable business.^[2]

He served as its Chairman until he sold it for GBP£245 million in 2006 to the Hanson Group.^[4][3]

As of 2015, he was worth an estimated GBP£170 million.^[4]

Uren served as the chairman of the Royal London Society for the Blind.^[3]

Uren donated GBP £30 million to the King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes in 2013.^[5] In 2014, he also donated GBP£40 million to his alma mater, Imperial College London,^[4][1] to fund the creation of the College's new "Bio-Medical Engineering Research Centre" in White City, London, which he envisioned as becoming a cornerstone for "a new Silicon Valley" of biotechnology.^[6]

Uren was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999^[3] and was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for philanthropic services.^[7][8]

He died on 9 August 2019 at the age of 95.^[2]