TRIBUTES have been paid to the man and talented engineer who founded one of Malvern’s most successful companies.
Steve Trudgill, who started Malvern Instruments from scratch, died last week at the age of 90, the Enigma Business Park firm has announced.
Founded since the 1970s the firm, one of Malvern’s biggest, now plays a leading role in the technology sector.
Born in Lancashire in 1926, Steve was to dedicate almost most of his live in Malvern.
His working career started in the 1940s as a 17-year-old when he worked as an apprentice at the former Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) – now known as Qinetiq.
He spent the next 20 years at the RSRE working as a senior experimental officer. This role saw him work with some of the top engineers in the country to develop radar.
Steve worked long hours often flying at night to carry out tests and the development of the radar proved to be a significant contrbution to the country winning the Second World War.
After the war he married Evelyn in 1947 and started up Lawson Tubes which saw him purchase old TVs, repairing them and selling them on. This developed into a mail order television tube business.
In the early 1960s he then worked with Bill Woodley and Arthur Kitson to found Precision Display Systems which supplied cathode ray tube mounting units and focus coils to Ferranti Ltd.
The business then expanded and in the 1970s moved to Spring Lane South changing its name to Malvern Instruments.
In 1977, the company won the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement and the MacRobert award, recognising its innovative engineering ideas. It also won three further Queen’s Awards throughout the 1980s.
The success of the business attracted interest from potential buyers and Steve sold the business to Cray in 1985 before leaving the firm altogether in 1988.
A spokesman from Malvern Instruments said: “The original research conducted into the development of telecommunications and opto-electronic materials by Steve and his colleagues provided the ideas for the products that today are the lifeblood of Malvern Instruments.
“Now a world-leading company employing 897 personnel worldwide, 375 of them based in Malvern, they continue to develop technically innovative products, building on Steve Trudgill’s founding innovation and leadership.”
Steve’s wife died in 2007. He is succeeded by four children, 10 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
