Richard Cousins

Richard John Cousins (29 March 1959 – 31 December 2017) was a British businessman, and the chief executive officer of the world's largest foodservice company, the Compass Group, based in Chertsey, Surrey.[1]

For the Australian rules footballer, see Richard Cousins (footballer).

Richard Cousins
Born(1959-03-29)29 March 1959
Leeds, England
Died31 December 2017(2017-12-31) (aged 58)
Cowan, New South Wales, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield
Lancaster University Management School
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseCaroline Thorpe (1982–2015)
Children2

Early life

Richard Cousins was born on 29 March 1959 in Leeds.[2] He was the son of Marian and Philip Cousins.[2]

Cousins was educated at The Brakenhale School, a comprehensive school in Bracknell, Berkshire.[3] He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Sheffield in 1980, followed by a master's degree in operational research from Lancaster University Management School.[2]

Career

Cousins began in the group operational research department of Cadbury-Schweppes in 1981,[2] being involved in market research and investment projects. In 1984 he joined BTR Industries,[2] again in operational research. He became corporate planning manager for Newey and Eyre (now part of Hagemeyer UK),[2] one of its subsidiaries and an electrical components firm. In 1990 he moved to BPB plc, the British firm which is the world's largest manufacturer of plasterboard and now owned by the French company Saint-Gobain.[4] He went on to be managing director of Abertay Paper Sacks in 1996, President and CEO of Westroc Inc in February 1998 and Group chief executive of BPB in April 2000.[5]

Cousins joined Compass in May 2006 as CEO.[4] In 2017, Cousins was named #11 on the 2017 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World by Harvard Business Review;[6] in 2016 he placed 17.[7] He is succeeded as CEO of Compass by Dominic Blakemore. Originally planned for 1 April 2018, the succession was brought forward to 1 January 2018.[8]

Personal life

Cousins married Caroline Thorpe in 1982; she died of cancer in 2015.[2][9] Their two sons were William and Edward, both of whom died with their father.[2] They resided in the Chilterns[10] and Tooting, South London.[11] The couple had previously lived at Wellington, Shropshire late in the 1980s, where Cousins was a player in the Cricket Club, of which he remained for some time chairman of the club committee.[12]

Death
Main article: 2017 Sydney Seaplanes DHC-2 crash

Cousins was killed on 31 December 2017 when the light aircraft he was on crashed into the Hawkesbury River in Australia near Cowan, north of Sydney. His two sons, William Cousins (25) and Edward Cousins (23), his fiancée Emma Bowden (48) and her daughter Heather Bowden-Page (11) as well as pilot Gareth Morgan, were also killed in the accident. Emma Bowden was the daughter of Gerald Bowden,[13] the former Conservative Member of Parliament for Dulwich.[14] Cousins, a keen cricket fan, was to attend the Fifth Test of the Ashes series in Sydney with his two sons; the seats were left empty.[15]

A year before his death, Cousins changed his will to include a "common tragedy clause", so that if he and his children were to die at the same time, the bulk of his fortune would go to charity. This resulted in the charity Oxfam receiving a £41 million bequest from his estate.[16]

References
  1. Bury, Rhiannon (21 September 2017). "Compass boss Richard Cousins to retire after 11 years at helm of catering giant". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. "COUSINS, Richard John". Who's Who 2017. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. "Community saddened by death of former Bracknell schoolboy in seaplane crash in Australia". Berkshire Live. 4 January 2018.
  4. "Richard Cousins, FTSE 100 chief who set new direction for Compass; 1959-2017". Financial Times. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. "Annual Report 2000". BPB at Investis. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  6. Harvard Business Review, November – December 2017, 68
  7. "The Best-Performing CEOs in the World". Harvard Business Review, November – December 2016. November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  8. "Dominic Blakemore". Compass Group. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  9. "Millionaire killed in Sydney plane crash with fiancee 'was urged to find someone new by first wife before she died of cancer'". Daily Mirror. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  10. Shah, Saeed (30 September 2005). "Richard Cousins: The reluctant batsman who's stepped out to face the French". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  11. "Tooting family killed in Sydney plane crash on New Year's Eve". The Wandsworth Guardian. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  12. "Pilot of crashed seaplane likely lost control after being exposed to gas". Shropshire Star. 4 July 2020. p. 12.Report by Dominic Robertson on latest investigation findings, referencing his Shropshire connections.
  13. "Ex-Tory MP father of seaplane victim tells of his grief" p. 13, Daily Telegraph, Issue no 50,580, 3 January 2018
  14. "Hawkesbury River seaplane: Catering giant CEO Richard Cousins and family killed in New Year's Eve crash". ABC News. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  15. "Cricket: Heartbreaking tragedy behind empty seats". The New Zealand Herald. AAP. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  16. Businessman Richard Cousins 'leaves £41m' to Oxfam BBC News, 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018
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