Alan Reece
Alan Richard Reece | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 March 1927 |
| Died | 31 December 2012 Wylam, Northumberland |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer and entrepreneur |
Alan Richard Reece (1927-2012) was the owner director of Pearson Engineering Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2012 his company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. Pearson Engineering developed a range of counter-mine rollers that attach to the front of wheeled and tracked military vehicles to trigger an explosion as they drive over improvised explosive devices. The rollers get blown up and the main vehicle and its occupants stay safe.
Early life
He was born in London, 7 March 1927, the son of Richard Reece and Olive Reece. In 1948 he married Doreen Harrison, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
Education and career
He was educated at
He graduated as an apprentice at
While still a lecturer he founded Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd in 1971. He applied soil mechanics to the design of earth-moving equipment. In the 1970s and 1980s large numbers of undersea cables were being laid but many were being damaged by trawler dragnets. Dr Reece found a way of burying cables under the seabed with a giant plough, which increased the reliability of international telephone calls and cut the cost of laying cables.
He was visiting scientist to the US Army Tank Automotive Centre, Detroit from 1962–63; Editor of the Journal of Terramechanics from 1963–73; and Founder Member and first President of the International Society for Terrain Vehicle Systems, 1964–67. He was Lecturer in the Strategic Leadership Programme, Templeton College, Oxford, 1984–92. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2006 and given a Lifetime Achievement Award, by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum in 2009. He was ranked in fifth place in Management Today’s Top 100 Entrepreneurs for 2011.
He established the Reece Foundation in 2007 to channel company profits to good causes. In 2011 he was ranked third in the Sunday Times Giving List, with donations of over £20m. He was the biggest single donor to Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing in 2009, whose new research building is named in his honour.
He died on 31 December 2012. Obituaries were published in the Guardian,[1] the Daily Telegraph[2] and The Times.[3]
Publications
Reece, Alan, Reviving British Manufacturing, Civitas, 2011.[4]
References
- ^ Adeney, Martin (18 January 2013). "Alan Reece obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Alan Reece". Telegraph. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "Alan Reece". The Times. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "Reviving British Manufacturing" (PDF). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
External links
| International | |
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| National | |
