Sir Owen Whitley Green (14 May 1925 – 1 June 2017) was chief executive and chairman of the British industrial conglomerate

BTR BTR may refer to: Companies * BTR Aerospace Group * BTR plc, formerly BTR Industries, one of the predecessor companies of Invensys plc * British Thomson-Houston (former name BTR), a British engineering and heavy industrial company Media, music, ...

Early life

Green was born in Stockton on Tees on 14 May 1925. He served with the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

from 1942 to 1946. In 1948 he married Doreen Spark (died 2006), with whom he had a son and two daughters. He qualified as an accountant in 1950."Sir Owen Green", obituary in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 29 June 2017, p. 31.

Career

Green joined BTR as finance director in 1956. In 1967 he became managing director and chief executive, and from 1984 to 1993 he was chairman. His acquisitions made BTR one of the leading industrial conglomerates of the 1980s. The 1983 bid for the Thomas Trilling conglomerate and the 1985 acquisition of Dunlop Holdings were particularly high-profile and acrimonious. From 1988 to 1993 Green was also director of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' and a trustee of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

. Green died on 1 June 2017.

Awards

In 1984 Green received a knighthood in the

1984 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...

and the gold medal of the

British Institute of Management The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. The major membership classes are ''Member'', ''Fellow'' - for those with significant expertise - and ''Companion'' - the most sen ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Owen 1925 births 2017 deaths People from Stockton-on-Tees British chief executives British industrialists Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Knights Bachelor Royal Naval Reserve personnel