Roy Stroud

The grandson of the city’s first rabbi 140 years ago, Rabbi Dr Joseph Strauss, he had two younger sisters, their parents Oswald Stroud, chairman of the West Yorkshire textile company Stroud Riley and Co Ltd, and his wife Clare.

He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, followed by Mill Hill School in London, and L’Institut Britannique, Paris.

When he was 18, and six months before the outbreak of war, he and his close friend William Bulmer (later, Sir William) volunteered for the Army, and on September 1, 1939, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 4th Indian Division, Royal Artillery of the Eight Army. He was sent to Egypt to fight in the North Africa campaign, and promoted to captain.

In Libya, he was severely wounded and would probably have died if he and his second-in-command not been discovered by the driver of a British military ambulance. But nearby Italian and German forces opened fire on the vehicle, killing everyone except Capt Stroud, whom the Italians captured.

Having been wounded a second time, he was in such a bad way that he managed to persuade the Italian captain to leave him to die, and having been abandoned in the desert, was found by the British for a second time, and was at last treated for his injuries. He suffered from these wounds for the rest of his life.

Following his recovery, he served in the UK and Germany, was promoted to major and demobilised in 1945 when he joined the family textile business.

His education having been disrupted by the war, Mr Stroud went to Bradford Technical College as a part-time student to get his Diploma in Textiles.

In January 1947 he married the love of his life, Reka Michaels.

He travelled extensively to develop overseas markets for the business, his success being recognised with the Queen’s Award for Export and an OBE.

Succeeding his father as chairman, he retired in 1980, now aged 60, when their business was sold. The following year he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, and awarded the ERD, the Emergency Reserve Decoration, for his Army service.

Roy Stroud could now devote himself to his three sons and their growing families, but this busy, energetic man had time for many other interests besides.

He shared a passion for farming with his father and for many years they had a small farm in Bolton Percy, near York.

He painted in oils and belonged to the Guiseley and Rawdon Painting club, played golf and gardened. He and Reka travelled around the world.

He had been appointed a justice of the peace in the late 1970s, becoming chairman of the Bradford bench, and for 10 years he represented the city’s magistrates on the West Yorkshire Police Committee. He was presented with a Public Service Award by the West Yorkshire Chief Constable.

Mr Stroud was chairman of the British Wool Textile Confederation and the Wool Industries Research Association; he was a director of National Provincial Bank, and served as treasurer, chairman and then life president of the Bradford Synagogue. He was a long-serving chairman of the Bradford Jewish Israel Appeal, and among other offices he held was that of Worshipful Master of the Fraternity Masonry Lodge and Bradford Rotary Club, which both gave him life membership.

The finest of role models and a man of the utmost integrity, he is survived by sons Richard, Robert and Neil, 13 grandchildren and two great-grand children. His wife pre-deceased him.