See also
Name: | Richard Portway Dobson |
Sex: | Male |
Father: | John Frederic Dobson (1875-1947) |
Mother: | Dina Portway (1885-1968) |
Birth | 11 Feb 1914 | 64 Coldharbour Road, Bristol |
Title | Sir | |
Death | 24 Oct 1993 (age 79) | 20 Devonshire Place, Westminster, London W.1 |
Sir Richard Portway Dobson, businessman, spent most of his working life in the service of the British-American Tobacco Company, later BAT Industries, which he joined after graduating from Kings College, Cambridge. He represented the company's interests in China for many years up till 1940. After war service in the RAF, he returned to BAT, working in China and then Rhodesia. He was appointed Deputy Chairman in 1962, Vice-Chairman in 1968 and Chairman in 1970, finally becoming President from 1976 to 1979.
In 1976-77, Dobson also served as non-executive chairman of British Leyland, until he was forced to resign due to controversy over indiscrete remarks which he made at a businessmen's dinner.
Dobson was knighted in the New Year Honours List 1976.
Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography