Latex expert Derek Richard Scott dies

ERJ staff report (BC)

Stroud, UK – The internationally regarded latex consultant Derek Richard Scott died on 16 May 2013 at the age of 81 after a long career in the rubber industry, latterly with his own consultancy.

Scott only retired fully in late 2007. Most of his older colleagues knew him as Derek, though he changed to Richard in later years. He started work as a junior assistant at Dunlop’s general rubber goods division at Manchester in 1948, conducting routine tests on manufactured goods.

National service with the Royal Air Force (1950-52) was spent as an aircrew cadet. Scott then returned to Dunlop as a project leader, training new staff and compiling data for product standards. From 1956, four years with Rubber Latex Ltd broadened his experience in raw material testing and compound control procedures, including his own innovations. In 1960 Scott returned to Dunlop as latex development technologist for new products involving nitrile and chloroprene latices.

He moved to Latex Process and Dispersions Ltd in 1964 as quality control manager and customer support technologist, which introduced him to international markets, mainly in Europe.

Scott spent two years with PVC glove manufacturer John Ward Ltd and five years with Precision Dippings Ltd and Dipco Ltd, before joining plant manufacturer Process Dipping Equipment Ltd as technical director, managing the subsidiary Interdip Ltd as well as commissioning plant and training customers’ staff in several countries.

Safety equipment specialist James North Ltd appointed Scott as technical manager in the late 1980s, after which he joined Ashe Laboratories, then owner of baby teat manufacturer Maws Ltd, to work on the development of low-nitrosamine latex teats.

From 1986 Richard, as he was now known, spent some years in Holland with Ditar BV, providing latex technological services for the Benelux textile industries.

In 1990 Scott formed his own consultancy Latex Applications and Technology (LAT), which he interspersed with short full-time projects for Plastic Dip Mouldings (1997); 4D Rubber Company, working on rubber sheeting (1999); Autobond, working on adhesives and surface coatings (2001); and Grip Ltd, working on allergen-free latex glove development (2002).

LAT’s client base spanned some 40 countries in Europe, South America, South Africa, the Middle East and Asia, including Malaysia, China, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Scott was married to Eunice for 58 years. She and their four children and nine grandchildren survive him.