Winner: Dr Herbert Loebl
ACADEMIC, engineer, entrepreneur and an inspiration for hundreds of business men and women - Dr Herbert Loebl has had an extraordinary influence over the business community in the North East.
There has been research which shows that his legacy in terms of companies which owe their existence to some extent to Dr Loebl is almost unprecedented in Europe for a businessman.
Dr Loebl, the son of a Jewish manufacturer, was born in Germany but fled to England with his family aged 16 when the Nazis came to power.
His father and uncle were granted visas to come to Britain in 1939 on condition they set up a small manufacturing business in a depressed area. They chose Team Valley, Gateshead. Loebl carried out his apprenticeship as a toolmaker there, until he was directed to work in a war factory in London in 1943.
After returning to study in the North East at King’s College, Newcastle, he joined up with fellow graduate Robert Joyce and they set up Joyce Loebl.
Starting with little money in a workshop under a railway arch in Painters Heugh, Newcastle, the firm Joyce, Loebl & Company Ltd developed strongly, making scientific instruments and later electronic controls in a subsidiary company Sevcon Engineering Ltd.
This became a hugely successful engineering group employing more than 500 people and led to the creation of 40 other businesses.
According to research by Paul Benneworth, of Newcastle University, who carried out a study into Loebl and Joyce’s legacy around eight years ago, the pair’s influence in terms of business creation is almost unparalleled.
And it was also long-lasting, with former employees moving into enterprise as late as the recessions of the 1980s and 90s. His passion for helping others to succeed led him to found Britain’s first voluntary support agency – Enterprise North -– which helped 200 business start-ups before being replaced by government agencies.
Dr Loebl retired from the company he co-founded in 1974. He gained a Master of Philosophy from the University of Durham and a PhD from the University of Newcastle.
He now researches, writes and publishes on historic topics, such as the history of the Jewish community in Bamberg. His work is recognised with an honorary science doctorate from the University of Newcastle. He lives in Gosforth and has three children and seven grandchildren.