Sydney Thomas Franklin Ryder, Baron Ryder of Eaton Hastings (16 September 1916 – 12 May 2003), known as Don Ryder, was a businessman and Labour peer. The one-time Chair of the
National Enterprise Board, he was involved in the creation of the
Ryder Report, a restructuring plan for
British Leyland
British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...
during the 1970s.
Life
Born in
Brentford,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
,
Ryder attended
Ealing County Grammar School (as it was then known).
He was employed between 1950 and 1960 as editor at the London Stock Exchange Gazette, subsequently serving as the publication's managing director between 1961 and 1963. This proved the launch pad for a career in publishing and related businesses. He served as chairman and chief executive of
Reed International between 1968 and 1975. In that year, in a desperate bid to stem Britain's accelerating industrial decline, the recently elected
Wilson government created the
National Enterprise Board (NEB), as part of a more interventionist economic strategy. Don Ryder was
ennobled and appointed to chair the NEB, which he did between 1975 and 1977.
[
]
Personal
Don Ryder married Eileen Dodds in 1950. The marriage resulted in two recorded children.[
]
Honours
Knighted in 1972, Ryder was created a Life Peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
as Baron Ryder of Eaton Hastings, of Eaton Hastings in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
on 15 July 1975.
See also
* Austin Rover Group
References
1916 births
2003 deaths
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
Knights Bachelor
Labour Party (UK) life peers
People educated at Ealing County Grammar School for Boys
20th-century English businesspeople
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
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