Appreciation of past Fellows

Sir Ernest Harrison OBE HonFREng - died on February 16, 2009 aged 82

Obituaries for Sir Ernest Harrison OBE HonFREng in The Times Online and The Telegraph

Tribute from past President Sir William Barlow FREng
Sir Ernest Harrison, (82) who died in February, was elected an Honorary Fellow in recognition of his contributions to military electronics and mobile telephony.

From 1966 until 1992 he was Chairman of Racal which became a successful company in radio radar and military communications. When the Government offered two licenses to compete with BT for mobile telephone networks Sir Ernest realised that it would need huge investment but decided to bid as he felt he had the best engineers and Racal would be able to fund it if the business prospered. The bid was successful and with with his colleague Sir Gerald Whent as Chief Executive they got going quickly as Racal Telecom which was soon worth more than the parent company and was floated as a PLC and soon after named Vodafone.

Vodafone became one of the world's largest companies worth £200 Billion.

Sir Ernest had a fervent belief in the importance of engineering and was supportive of the Academy. In his company he considered all staff as part of a family and was revered by them.

To add an appreciation please email Dominic Joyeux

Search
 
 

 

Updated July 2012

/about/fellowship/appreciation/details.htm