Former Raychem worker pays tribute to company's founder Paul Cook, who died at 96

Jim Webster worked there for 19 years after joining in 1974, becoming the general manager of the wire and cable business in Dorcan before he left in 1993.

During that time, he said the company’s global revenue jumped from £100 million to more than £1 billion.

Jim reflected on his years as a Raychem employee when he heard that its 96-year-old American boss had died last month.

He added: “It was well known as an attractive and fun place to work based on Paul’s philosophy that everyone in the firm makes an important contribution to its success. Staff benefits reflected that culture.

“It was all about developing new products for R&D so that the company could grow.

“Paul, famous for always wearing a bow tie, was passionate about new product development and made regular visits to Swindon to meet the staff and review progress, which everyone got excited about.

“I heard about his death from a colleague in America, there is a strong alumni network. There was a reunion in California when he turned 90 and a lot of people showed up.

“He will be fondly remembered by his many colleagues in this town. He made a big impact and left a hell of a legacy.”

The company, headquartered in Redwood City, California was a tech company started by Paul in 1957 to commercialise high performance polymer products based on radiation chemistry, like heat shrink tubing, wire and cable, high voltage insulators and telecom enclosures.

Raychem’s UK operations in Swindon started in the 1960s and grew rapidly to become one of the town’s major companies.

Its facilities in Cheney Manor and Dorcan were the European headquarters for the Thermofit, wire and cable, and research and development divisions, with product shipped from a distribution centre at the Techno Industrial Estate.

More than 1,000 people in Swindon worked for Raychem by the 1980s. Tyco acquired the company in 1999 and today it operates as TE Connectivity on the Dorcan site.