Butterworth married his wife Doris in 1948 and they had one son and two daughters, including Anna Walker, who became a senior civil servant of some distinction.
[citation needed] Butterworth believed strongly that his job was to select professors who would be leaders in their discipline and that he should stand aside and let them develop their subjects in their own way (though within a tight budget).
[citation needed] He had a belief that Warwick must maintain a balance between 'pure' and 'applied' disciplines: you could justify a strong commitment to the Humanities if you had a Business School, a very pure Maths Department if you had Engineering.
[citation needed] A large part of Warwick's success stems from Butterworth's cultivation of links with the rich industrial enterprises of the Midlands.
His link with Miss Martin, the famous 'Anonymous Benefactor', represented the crucial launching pad for the project,[citation needed] but funds came from many sources including a contribution for the third and final phase from the about to be abolished West Midlands County Council whose gift was steered through by a Coventry Councillor.
He traded on the sympathies of his friends on grantmaking committees for consideration of Warwick and held forth without giving quarter to ministers he happened to bump into in corridors.