A well known Dorset businessman has passed away at the age of 76.
Peter Douch, formerly managing director and chairman of the family's funeral group, Douch Family Funeral Directors, stepped down from the position of chairman last year saying that in retirement he wanted to watch more sport.
Mr Douch had been involved in the family funeral business since 1994, after a career as a chartered accountant.
The business was founded in 1909 by his grandfather Fred in Wimborne as a furniture and furnishing business initially. This led to coffins before becoming a funeral business before Mr Douch joined as finance director in 1994.
The business is now dedicated to funerals with seven branches across Dorset and an award-winning funeral plan, employing more than 50 staff.
After leaving school Mr Douch trained as an accountant in Poole and secured his first post-qualification job in St Lucia. It was there he met his wife Josephine, a nurse, but they had to spend many months apart after he accepted a new job as an internal auditor with the export division of Coca-Cola.
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Returning to St Lucia in 1976 to get married, he became manager in Dominica of accountants Coopers & Lybrand.
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Mr Douch secured a job back in St Lucia in 1978 with the local brewery, majority owned by Heineken, where the couple lived with their four sons, Dweyn, Nick, Quentin and Andrew, until a move to England in 1988.
In 1994, Mr Douch's father Jack was running the family business and he moved to join the company as finance director. Later he became managing director and in 2011 when his son Nick took on that role, he became chairman.
After his retirement, Mr Douch said: “My father ensured I worked in all aspects of the funeral business so I would know it inside out - from arranging and conducting funerals to coffin bearing. It is a grounding that was important and one that I impressed on my children.
“After closing the furniture business, we added to the funeral branches we had already, which were FC Douch & Son in Wimborne, AE Jolliffe in Ferndown and James Smith in Swanage. We acquired Albert Marsh of Wareham and Upton in 1999, Lesley Shand in Corfe Mullen in 2000, Anthony Ives of Parkstone in 2005, Charles Small in 2010 and in 2015 we opened a branch of Lesley Shand in Blandford.
“With my family heavily involved in local sport - especially cricket - for years, we have sponsored many teams and leagues and for more than a decade sponsored the Dorset Cricket League through our Dorset Funeral Plan.”
Nick Douch said: “My dad wasn’t keen on the limelight but he shone in business. Tributes have been flooding in.
“Under his leadership the business grew organically and through acquisitions. He was able to innovate while maintaining traditions, and won many awards.
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“Following him into the managing director’s role was daunting but under his guidance it was a smooth transition. He took pride in the family tradition being upheld as my brother Andrew and daughter Lakeisha became permanent members of the family business."
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