BREAKING: Renishaw PLC founder Sir David McMurtry dies
By Simon Hacker | 9th December 2024
Gloucestershire has lost a titanic figure in its business culture this afternoon with the sad announcement of the death of inventor and technology entrepreneur Sir David McMurtry.
In a statement released to the London Stock Exchange, it was confirmed by Renishaw that the billionaire co-founder of Renishaw PLC and the owner of McMurtry Automotive has died at the age of 84.
It said: "It is with profound sadness that the company has learnt of the sudden death of its co-founder and non-executive director, Sir David McMurtry."
Speaking on behalf of the board, Sir David Grant, interim non-executive chairman, added: "David was a uniquely talented engineer and his curiosity and drive helped to create a globally respected engineering company. His legacy will live on through the culture of innovation he helped to create in Renishaw."

He added:"The board's deepest sympathies are with David's wife and family."
This summer, Sir David decided to step down from the board of Renishaw PLC as executive chairman, having founded the company in 1973 alongside lifelong friend and innovator John Deer.
Sir David became a global figure in the world of specialist engineering and innovation.
Having founded Renishaw more than 50 years ago, the company's first product was a touch-trigger probe invented by Sir David to solve a specific inspection requirement for the Rolls-Royce Olympus engines used in Concorde."
Under Sir David's leadership, Renishaw has created thousands of jobs in Gloucestershire and around the world.

Now employing 3,300 in the UK, Renishaw has become our county's biggest privately owned company and for the financial year ending June 2024, revenue was £691.3m, pretax profit at £122.6m and more than 90% of the firm's business was in export.

Eschewing retirement, Sir David kept busy at the wheel of the development and manufacture of his passion, to develop the world's fastest electric hypercar, the Spéirling. Early incarnations of the car have smashed a succession of motoring records and the model is currently in production while a project for a new factory, adjacent to Renishaw's New Mills headquarters, is currently being negotiated with planners.
In the latest Sunday Times Rich List, compiled early this year when Sir David was chairman of Renishaw PLC, his individual wealth was seen to have rise in wealth by £128m this year to a total of £1,252bn. The boost took Sir David, who lived near Wotton-under-Edge, from 157th up to 135th position in the newspaper's estimates.
Locally, Sir David was a hugely popular figure with a reputation for being approachable and down to earth, despite his success in industry.
● Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen said: "This is such sad news. Sir David was an inspirational man and on few occasions when I was lucky enough to meet him, he was extremely humble and never sought the limelight, but very praiseful of those who worked for him and other people in business, despite his incredible success. In aviation tech, medicine, smartphones, EV batteries, even brain surgery and Olympic bikes, Sir David contributed so much that changed our lives – while creating thousands of jobs both here and around the world. The word 'legend' is often lightly used, but this is what the man truly was."

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