Obituary: Sir Maynard Jenour

TO DESCRIBE Sir Maynard Jenour as an 'industrialist of the old school', as Tony Heath did in your obituary (11 September), could be misleading for readers who knew him a little, knew of him or who read obituaries for bits of 20th-century history, writes Ian Sutherland. He was never old-fashioned. I hope Heath meant that Sir Maynard was knowledgeable, courteous, rather wise and unfussy in his industrial and public service.

I did some consulting work for him 20-odd years ago and he took me on to the deserted trading floor of the Cardiff Exchange. I carry the picture he gave of himself as a young man when he worked there with a 500-ton ship due in the port and arguing farthings per tons of coal to put together a cargo in time to meet the charter.

As a cricketer he was shrewd. His General Manager told me that as an apprentice he was in a team that used to travel to Monmouth to play Sir Maynard's team. Sir Maynard used to kid the lads from the works in the visiting team into a pint (or three) beforehand. It took a couple of seasons for them to notice that it took the edge off their performance.

He liked good artists in Wales. His office had a Kerryl Watts and a Ceri Richards among others and he knew why he had them.