Tom Roberts (April 6 1916 – January 8 2010)
Tom Roberts, a Kenilworth businessman who was born in the town, passed away peacefully in the late afternoon of Friday, January 8th, aged 93. Tom was born on 6th April 1916 and in his youth was an athlete running with Birchfield Harriers in national championships. His first successful business venture in Eagle Lane involved the making of machines that stood in railway stations and other public places that enabled people to print out metal strips with names and other information on them. At the age of 48 he took over Buckingham Swimming Pools and had major successes manufacturing pools for the rich and famous with clients such as the Duchess of York and the classical conductor Sir George Solti. Expanding into the Middle East, he found the need to transport water for his pools, even thinking of using the tap-water of Kenilworth for his venture, but then settled on the innovative tactic of constructing and selling water-carrying lorries by building a tank on an already manufactured chassis.
Tom was a member of the Masons, and a founder member of the Rotary Club of Kenilworth in 1960 where he was President in 1967-8. He was very much looking forward to attending the 50th Anniversary of Kenilworth Rotary later this year as the sole surviving founder member still in the club. He did not achieve this final goal. In the Autumn of 2009 he moved temporarily, as he hoped, to the Sunrise Care Home in Knowle and was judged to have the ability to live for several more years when he took ill, caught pneumonia, and was transferred to Solihull Hospital where he passed away.
Tom was very much loved by his fellow Rotarians and known for his courteous hospitality. In his hey day he set up a marquee in his garden in the summer for a succession of parties with the organisations he belonged to, bearing all the costs himself, and passing on all the profits to charity. Tom was a Rotarian who lived the meaning of the Rotary motto, ‘Service above Self’.
In his long and fulfilling life he lost his first wife Barbara to cancer in 1956 at the age of 35, leaving him with two small sons, Geoffrey and John. He married Annette in 1960, to whom a daughter, Nicolette, was born. He is survived by his wife, Annette, son Geoffrey and grandson Thomas, son John and grandchildren James and Katy, and daughter Nicolette and granddaughter Rebecca.
The funeral is at St John’s Church on Friday 22nd January at 2.15 pm and afterwards at Oakley Wood Crematorium.