BCB International Ltd, the Cardiff-based designer and manufacturer of survival equipment reports the death of its chairman, Deryck Howell. He was 97.
Cardiff-born Deryck Howell after qualifying as a pharmacist joined the family firm of chemists, EG Howell. During the Second World War, he was made Tank Troop leader in North Africa and southern Italy. He was believed to be the last surviving member of the โPhantomโ Regiment where his artistic skills helped provide battlefield intelligence to Army Headquarters during the Italian Campaign.
When the Phantom Regiment was disbanded, Deryck Howell was made Chief Superintendent of the District of Wolfsberg, Austria. After the war, he returned to Cardiff where he expanded the family pharmaceutical business.
His son, Andrew Howell who is the Managing Director of BCB International said: โMy father will be sadly missed by all who met him. He was an inspirational and tremendous character with a kind spirit. He would delight family, friends and others with his funny stories and anecdotes about his various experiences. He was instrumental in developing many of our best-selling products like our shark repellent. His ingenious use of nigrosin dye ensured that our shark repellent was the only product out of 24 to achieve any success in repelling sharks when tested by the US Navy in 1967. Since then, it has been used by navies worldwide.
โHe had an enormous hard work ethic and played an active role in the company right until the end. Only days before his passing he was scrutinising our new range of marine survival equipment.โ
