David Steel (businessman)

Sir David Edward Charles Steel DSO MC TD (29 November 1916 – 9 August 2004) was a British businessman, chairman of BP from 1975 to 1981 and of the Wellcome Trust.[1]

Steel was the son of Sir Joseph Lincoln Spedding Steel and his second wife, Barbara Isobel Thorburn Goldschmidt. His father was private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty throughout the First World War (and succeeded Winston Churchill in the job), and later general manager of the British Aluminium Company.[1] Steel was educated at Rugby School, and University College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor's degree in law.[2]

Steel was a tank commander in the Second World War, and was awarded a DSO and an MC.[3]

At the end of 1974, he succeeded Sir Eric Drake as chairman of BP.[3]

References

1. Roger Cowe. "Obituary: Sir David Steel | News". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3726. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
3. "Sir David Steel". The Daily Telegraph. 2004-08-11. Retrieved 2016-07-21.