Bushmills chief Monthly bill McCourt, who started excursions of distillery, dies aged 90
Dr Bill McCourt, who died on Sunday, was a well known and extremely-regarded company figure in Northern Eire. He was handling director of the Old Bushmills Distillery Ltd from 1976 to 1992, founder of the Northern Ireland branch of the Institute of Administration Expert services, and chairman of the area CBI. He was 90.
e was born in New York, and came to Northern Eire with his spouse and children, aged 9. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, but adhering to German air raids on Belfast in 1941 he was evacuated to relatives close friends in Bessbrook in South Armagh.
He turned a boarder at the Royal College Dungannon from September 1941, returning to ‘Inst’ two decades later on, and ending his formal schooling at Belfast Tech.
His to start with task was with the York Road Flax Spinning Organization, and he later moved to the textile company Lindustries, as head of industrial engineering. In 1966 he joined Rolls-Royce in Belfast as head of administration, helping to establish the factory and afterwards turning into general manager.
Pursuing the closure of the plant he turned controlling director of Aged Bushmills, and guided the company via continuous enlargement, winning the Queen’s Award for Export in 1986 and 1991. He also initiated excursions which built the distillery a top rated tourist attraction, and commissioned a ebook about its heritage titled Spirit of the Age.
He performed a important purpose in the enterprise local community, not only with the Institute of Management Products and services, but as a committee member of the British Institute of Administration and the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, and as a council member and chairman of the area CBI in 1990 and 1991.
He was on the board of the NI Financial Council and a member of the Council of the University of Ulster which awarded him an honorary DSc in 1989.
He was also on the regional committee of the Nationwide Trust, and a previous-President of the NI Industrial Growth Board Partnership.
Long-time period buddy Roy Bailie, chairman of the Bailie Group and a previous chairman of the NI Tourist Board and the nearby CBI, reported: “I realized Bill in a enterprise and private capacity.
“As chair of CBI he performed a key job in setting up the Joint Organization Council of Eire, a 1st in North-South small business co-procedure.
“He was generally great business and in his business enterprise life he was thoughtful, decisive and sensible. He was a gentle man and also a gentleman. He will be skipped by all who experienced the great fortune to know him.”
His daughter Dee claimed: “Father was a fantastic reader, and he loved activity. He coached and performed tennis and squash, and he was an avid rugby supporter. His remaining night was invested watching Ulster beat Munster on tv, which we like to assume made him satisfied. He loved to travel and he was a keen photographer. Father was loving, generous, full of knowledge and superior judgment, but never ever judgmental. We adored him and he us.”
Dr McCourt is survived by his widow Joan, a former teacher and Irish hockey worldwide, his daughter Dee, son Roger and grandchildren Daniel, Ravi and Nancy.
Belfast Telegraph