Obit: Tributes to Stratford businessman Peter Osborne
SUCCESSFUL engineer, designer and businessman Peter Osborne has died.
For more than four decades, as managing director of Ettington-based Special EFX, Peter steered the business he started in his 20s to global success, first as a personalised gift and promotional merchandise firm Troika and for the past 20 years as award design and manufacturer, Special EFX.
Troika re-located from the Birmingham jewellery quarter and became one of the first companies to operate out of Stratford’s Avenue Farm Industrial Estate.
Employing more than 40 people, Troika supplied blue chip companies such as British Airways, including creating bespoke keepsakes for Concorde passengers.
Peter and team also won design awards throughout Europe for their unique ‘ergo flask’ scooping the British Design Award in 1988, which was presented by the late HRH Duke of Edinburgh.
Later after re-locating to Ettington Park and rebranding as Special EFX, Peter oversaw investment in manufacturing technology that kept Special EFX at the forefront of award manufacture, and their products could be seen everywhere from the music and entertainment industry to motor racing and the Stratford Herald Business and Tourism Awards.
Recognising early the need for alternative and sustainable energy sources, Peter was instrumental in the success of another Ettington-based company, FuturEnergy, working in the renewable technology sector.
A skilled and creative engineer, Peter Osborne was born in Nuneaton in 1947 and attended King Edward’s School in Birmingham.
Soon after graduating from Aston University with a degree in psychology, he created his first winning design- a silver monogrammed gear knob for discerning motorists.
Thanks to the growing popularity of national mail order catalogues, the product was a hit.
Building on those foundations, Peter’s business was soon producing up to 10,000 personalised items a day.
A keen traveller, Peter became one of the first to recognise the importance of sourcing products from the Asian market in the 1980s. His iconic mini-fridge design was also a national success.
As well as a brilliant engineer, Peter was also an excellent sportsman, a fine shot, a talented entrepreneur, a musician and a brilliant raconteur.
“Peter was one of the funniest people you would be likely to meet,” his best friend Simon Kirkpatrick said.
“He was cultured, intelligent and always great company. Most of all he was kind.
“To say he lit up a room would be an understatement, he wasn’t brash or loud but you simply knew he was there and he had a warmth that is hard to put into words but his humanity was infectious.”
He added: “Peter’s inimitable personality meant that he inspired enormous loyalty from his employees, many of whom worked with him for decades.”
Peter, who died on 22nd April, is survived by his wife of 40 years, Melanie, children Holly, William, Amber and Tara and grandchildren Ben, Livvy and Jasper.
