MAURICE WILKS
Page 47
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WE regret to record the death of Mr. Maurice Fernand Cary Wilks, chairman of the Rover Co. Ltd. since 1962. Mr. Wilks, who was 59, died last Sunday at his home in Anglesey. He joined the Rover company in 1930 as chief engineer, a position he held until becoming technical director in 1946; he was appointed managing director in 1960.
It was Maurice Wilks who, with his brother Spencer, took the decision to produce the Land-Rover and it was also this partnership which in 1930 had made the decision to produce only high-quality cars as a matter of company policy.
Maurice Wilks was a very fine engineer and was largely responsible for the company's pionering of road gas turbines; he was also one of the most active sponsors of the development of the Motor Industry Research Establishment.
In his early years he worked for General Motors in America. and later for the Hillman company in Coventry.