Multi-millionaire and family killed in seaplane tragedy
THE widowed British multi-millionaire who died in Sydney’s New Year’s Eve seaplane crash alongside his two sons, new fiancee and her young daughter had sent out wedding invitations shortly before travelling to Australia.
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THE widowed British multi-millionaire who died in Sydney’s New Year’s Eve seaplane crash alongside his two sons, new fiancee and her young daughter had sent out wedding invitations shortly before travelling to Australia.
Richard Cousins and Emma Bowden had formalised their guest list just days before flying off on their Christmas and New Year holiday, with an engagement party planned for March, and a Summer wedding booked for July.
It was a second chance at love for Mr Cousins, 58, who had lost his wife of 32 years, Caroline, to cancer a little over two years ago, just six weeks after she was diagnosed.
And in a shocking twist to the New Year’s Eve seaplane tragedy, it was revealed that it would also have been Caroline’s birthday.
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“It would have been her 58th birthday today (January 1). I’d just woken up and gone downstairs and said ‘happy birthday’ to her memory as I have each year since she died when I got a text with the terrible news,” Mr Cousin’s brother-in-law, Ian Thorpe, told The Daily Telegraph last night.
Mr Cousins, 58, was in Australia combining the great loves of his life when tragedy struck.
Experienced pilot Gareth Morgan was flying cricket-crazy Mr Cousins, his fiancee Emma, her daughter Heather, 11, and Mr Cousins’ sons William, 25, and Edward, 23, back to Rose Bay after lunch at Cottage Point when the plane they were travelling in nosedived into the Hawkesbury River on Sunday.
None of the six people strapped into the single engine de Havilland Beaver survived.
Mr Thorpe said his sister had been happily married to Mr Cousins to the day she died.
“Caroline and Richard had 32 very happy years together moving all around the country, starting in Shropshire via Canada and Scotland. Richard was devastated when he lost her but he was also so happy that he met Emma, they became friends, got on really well and became engaged.”
According to The Sun, Mr Cousins wife urged him to “find someone else”.
Speaking from his Leicestershire home, Mr Thorpe said he is his younger nephew, Ed’s godfather and that all the family were happy for Richard and this chance at new happiness.
“They were both very private but I know he was very happy, over the moon that he found another love of his life in such a short time. My sister would have wanted that,” Mr Thorpe said.
“They were getting married in July … even if we had not been invited, me and my daughter would have gate crashed the wedding because I’d have wanted to give him my support. So many people have silly feelings when people move on, it is not necessary.”
Mr Cousins had the world at his feet. He was the chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, The Compass Group, one of the world’s leading food service companies with generated annual revenues of £22.6 billion last year.
He had been listed at number 11 on the influential guide published by the Harvard Business Review of the 100 Best Performing CEOs in the World.
The CEO had just announced his retirement after 11 years in charge of the listed catering giant and had told friends that he was looking forward to a new chapter in his professional and personal life.
His former colleague and Director of Communications at the Compass Group, Chris King, told The Daily Telegraph Cousins was a “fantastic bloke” and exceptional in his brilliance as a leader.
“The company was a basket case, on its knees when he took it on in 2006. There had been a share price collapse, two profit warnings, huge reputational issues, a scandal in a bid for a UN contract. Things were very, very bad and nobody thought that anything would happen beyond its sale to a private equity firm and its break up,” he said.
“It is now, well, its results show what it is today — and what he made of it. He had been at Compass for 11 years that is a long time in FTSE terms to be CEO. You have to remember the group is based in 70 countries and travelling around the world sounds glamorous but it is punishing.”
Mr King said he thought Mr Cousins had reached a stage in his professional life where he felt it was time for a change: “He had met someone and probably thought the time is right. But I have no doubt that he would have gone on to do other things, he would not put his feet up. He may have gone on to chair other companies, played a role in the business world, perhaps working with charities and in a different way.”
Mr Cousins’ fiancee, Emma Bowden, 48, was an art director at Okay magazine, the high circulation British TV celebrity magazine.
The two had been living together in a relatively modest 1930s terrace in a suburban street in Tooting in London’s south western suburbs and a short walk away from 11-year-old Heather’s school.
Ms Bowden’s former boss, Okay Editor, Lisa Byrne, told The Daily Telegraph last night she had worked with Ms Bowden for more than 10 years and that she was one of her most valued and trusted staff working in production and layout.
“She was absolutely lovely, very into her family and friends and daughter Heather who she adored,” she said.
We are deeply shocked and saddened by this terrible news. Richard was known and respected for his great humanity — PAUL WALSH, COMPASS GROUP
Ms Byrne, who left the magazine and moved to the northern English city of York two years ago, said she had talked to colleagues who had told her that Emma was also “obviously over the moon” about her engagement.
“It sounds like they met and fell in love and I think it is true that when you know, you just know. She was very private but I know she was extremely happy she had met this lovely gentleman and they were going to get married, this summer I think.”
Ms Byrne said Emma had always been “a calm influence in the office, stable and balanced and nothing ever fazed her”.
“That was great for me as Editor because so often, we went to press on Sunday and there would be page changes at the last minute. She never freaked, never had a fit. I am, I think we are all in total shock that this has happened. I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” Ms Byrne said.
NSW Police Marine Commander Detective Superintendent Mark Hutchings said the family “were in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and for this to happen to them at a place like this is nothing more than just tragic”.
“NSW Police Force and the Marine area command and no doubt the people of NSW would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of those who perished,” he said.
Ms Bowden and her young daughter regularly travelled the world together, recently posting pictures from the holiday hotspot of Capri in Italy.
Sydney Seaplanes managing director Aaron Shaw said he saw Mr Cousins’ family before their flight and they were “excited” about the trip to the up-market Cottage Point Inn for the $535-per-person flight and three-course a la carte lunch.
During an emotional press conference, Mr Shaw described 44-year-old Canadian pilot Mr Morgan as a “lovely guy, a gentle guy, deeply liked by all of our staff”.
“Ringing his parents today was one of the worst calls I’ve ever had to make in my life.”
Paul Walsh, chairman of Compass Group, worked closely with Mr Cousins and paid tribute to his “great humanity”.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this terrible news. The thoughts of everyone at Compass are with Richard’s family and friends, and we extend our deepest sympathies to them,” he said.
“Richard was known and respected for his great humanity and a no-nonsense style that transformed Compass into one of Britain’s leading companies.”