1988: Cecil Charles John French

1988: Cecil Charles John French

 

Cecil Charles John French (1926-2016)

103rd President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

French was born in 1926.

He was educated at Newport School, near Saffron Walden in Essex, and the University of London’s King’s College. He gained a BSc (Eng) with First Class Honours in 1947. He then obtained an MSc (Eng) for research into particle size analysis.

After a graduate apprenticeship at CAV Ltd., French was awarded a Marshall Aid Scholarship. He studied at Columbia University, New York, USA. He also carried out research into combustion in the petrol engine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spent some time studying production methods at the John Deere Tractor Plant at Waterloo, Iowa.

When he returned to England in 1952, he joined Ricardo Consulting Engineers, where he worked on diesel and petrol engine research and development. He was appointed a director in 1969. From 1979 to 1983, he acted as Managing Director, and between 1984 and 1987 he was Chairman of the instrumentation and educational equipment manufacturing subsidiary, G Cussons Ltd. In 1982 he was made Vice-Chairman of Ricardo Consulting Engineers PLC.

From 1990 to 1992, French was Group Technology Director of Ricardo International.

He is a Past President of the Diesel Engineers’ and Users’ Association, and of the International Council for Combustion Engines, CIMAC.

Cecil French died in 2016.

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