International automotive economist Professor Garel Rhys, CBE, has died.
Garel was the chairman of the Welsh Automotive Forum, Professor Emeritus and President of the Centre of Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University and an adviser to Welsh Government on economic and automotive affairs.
He died peacefully at his Cardiff home 21 February, a week before his 77th birthday, and he is survived by his wife and three children.
Welsh Automotive Forum chief executive Tim Williams said, “Garel’s death has been a tremendous shock to all in the forum and I know the sadness will be shared throughout the automotive community as we extend our very deepest and sincere condolences to his wife and children.
Garel was born and brought up in the Swansea Valley but earned and enjoyed a distinguished and highly respected position in the global automotive industry so his passing will be felt around the world, where he lectured extensively and spoke at numerous events.
His unrivalled international standing made him the obvious choice along with others to help establish the Welsh Automotive Forum in 1997 and after it was incorporated Garel became Chairman in 2001. He then fought tooth and nail to voice the concerns of the supply chain and automotive industry through some of the toughest times in recent history.
Garel was a wise counsellor, often taking an alternative view to the popular train of thought on an issue, but he was invariably right in the end. Those who listened to his keynote speeches relished his presentation style of no-nonsense facts blended with that irrepressible Welsh humour which made him so commanding and enjoyable.
With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the automotive industry from the dawn of the motor car to the present day, I think it is fair to say we will not see his like again, and he will be sorely missed by hundreds if not thousands whose lives he touched during a very full life.”
