CARLOW TOWN and county lost one of its most progressive businessmen recently with the death of Peter Thomas, who passed away on Saturday, January 23, peacefully at home in The Hermitage, Carlow.

Passionate about improving and modernising Irish business and increasing employment, he was involved in many companies, associations and enterprises during his life. He was an innovator in business and was always interested in new ideas, products and methods.

Peter was proud to be Irish and believed that we could do things as well as, and even better, than anyone else, long before we had that sort of national self-belief.

While he was Managing Director of Thompson & Sons Ltd from 1944 to 1975, Peter engaged in an extraordinary variety of manufacturing and steel fabricating – ranging from agricultural and turf machinery, haybarns, tipping gears, lorry bodies, the building of houses, schools, factories, bridges to satellite tracking dishes.

In 1951, he showed initiative in switching from structural steel engineering to heavy engineering when Thompsons won the tender to make the machinery Bord na Mona required for milled peat and sod turf production. The switch meant a doubling of the numbers employed.

When work was unavailable here, the businessman went looking for and obtained work abroad. He was instrumental in forming the Irish Structural Steel Association between Thompsons, McLoughlins & Smith & Pearsons so that Irish firms could compete for big international projects. The association completed projects in many countries including Tanzania, Ghana, and the Middle East.

He established Tall Structures Ltd to build microwave towers for export to countries around the world.

President of the Construction Industry Federation, Peter was one of its founders and a trustee of the builders' pension fund.

He was one of the Directors of the Irish Wallboard Company Ltd in Athy, when it launched its public share issue in 1946. He served on the Board of the Meath Hospital.

He was a Director of the South Eastern Regional Tourism Organisation, and was very involved in the Barrow awards and the development of the Barrow as a tourist attraction.

Peter was also on the Carlow Tidy Towns Committee as he took great pride in Carlow and sought to enhance its facilities and attractions.

A man of diverse interests, he was also involved in the Leinster Motor Club and competed, driving his unmodified road cars, in several Circuit of Ireland Rallies.

A founding Director of the Irish Veteran & Vintage Car Club and its second President, he was instrumental in organising the First Gordon Bennett Commemorative Rally and the erection of the monument to the race at the Moat of Ardschull.

A keen photographer all his life, Peter took photographs and film of many historic moments. The best known of these is a short black and white film of the first Aer Lingus flight from Baldonnel Aerodrome which the company had just built. Many of his films and photos record structures and buildings built by Thompsons. He also took many films of motoring events.

Peter Thomas was happily married to Joyce and they lived together in The Hermitage for 60 years. Joyce, who was well known in Carlow for her involvement with the National Council for the Blind and gardening, predeceased him by four years. He is survived by his four children and 13 grandchildren. His funeral took place in the Friends Meeting House, Enniscorthy, on Monday, January 25.