Connect, no.154, May/June 2008, p.1

Bevan Braithwaite OBE MA FREng FWeldI

TWI regrets to announce that its former chief executive Bevan Braithwaite died on Friday 25th April 2008 after a long illness. He retired in 2004 following a 43 year long professional and personal vocation to engineering.

He joined the British Welding Research Association (BWRA), as TWI was then known, in 1961 as a scientific officer in the Fatigue Laboratory. By 1966 he was appointed to the executive board and held the post of Chief Executive for 16 years. He was the inspiration and driving force for the concept and creation of Granta Technology Park near Cambridge in 1999 and of TWI's new main building on the Park.

He became President of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) in 1999 and received an honorary Fellowship from The Welding Institute and the IIW Edstrom Medal for many distinguished services to the profession. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1999.

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