George Paul MBE, the previous grasp of the Essex & Suffolk died on 9 October, aged 82.
Mr Paul was grasp and newbie huntsman of the Essex & Suffolk Foxhounds from 1977 to 1985, having learnt his craft from the good Ronnie Wallace, when he spent a season with the Heythrop. He was chairman of the Essex & Suffolk for 21 years and chairman of the point-to-point committee.
He ran the household agency Pauls Agriculture, and when it was purchased by FTSE 100 firm Harrisons & Crosfield in 1985 he was appointed chief govt after which chairman. He was additionally chairman of Norwich Union, which grew to become Aviva.
Mr Paul had a love of racing and plenty of pleased hours had been spent leaving on the break of day to journey to Newmarket to look at the primary lot out on the gallops, particularly if one in every of his horses skilled by Lucy Wadham was out.
He rode in his first point-to-point on a horse referred to as Invertina and was hooked. He went on to journey, prepare and personal many winners, most of them home-bred. He dreamt of getting a Cheltenham runner and was remembered saying, “This may very well be the one”, about completely different horses. The closest he obtained was with Terivic within the Topham at Aintree, skilled by Kim Bailey. Different notable home-breds included Sir Winston, Cordon Bleu, Artful Look, Craftsman, and Cornelia.
A Suffolk man at coronary heart, he served as deputy lieutenant and excessive sheriff of the county, and president of the Suffolk present twice. Following the demise of his first spouse Mary, he carried on her work with the Suffolk Horse Society. He served as chairman for 25 years, and stood down in 2020.
He was a former chairman of the Jockey Membership Estates in Newmarket, and chair of the Nationwide Horseracing Museum for 5 years. He was trustee of the Residence of Horseracing, and instrumental within the Palace Home restoration. This 12 months he was appointed MBE for providers to British horseracing heritage.
He’s survived by his second spouse Maggie, daughter Bridget, sons Stuart and Oliver, his stepchildren Robert and Alexandra, and 9 grandchildren.
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