James Arthur Tate, 1923- 2011, passed away peacefully at home on 7th October after a short illness.
James joined the Association in 1959, giving support over many years, particularly at the Annual Dinners then held at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds, where he could be guaranteed to field a large number of colleagues and guests.
He started his engineering career as a student apprentice at Henry Berry & Co. Ltd. and advanced from the drawing office through Senior Designer, Chief Draughtsman, Director, Managing Director, & Company Chairman, to become Chief Executive of the Clayton Group of companies, having served for over 50 years on his retirement in 1994.
He was an outstanding, innovative & highly respected Engineer, gaining Chartered Engineer status & subsequently being awarded a Fellowship of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1972.
Salient contracts amongst many hundreds of special purpose machine tool designs under his control included the first nuclear fuel de-canning machines for the then Ministry of Supply Windscale plant and the massive hydraulic cylinders for the Thames Barrier project.
He will be sadly missed by many, with great affection and appreciation of the contribution he made to the engineering industry worldwide.