Lewis Goodman OBE
Director of Marks and Spencer and Vantona, Chairman of the International Textiles, Clothing & Footwear Industries, Lewis Goodman, studied Textiles at Bradford Technical College in the 1940s.
Lewis was born in Breslau but when he was 12
he was sent to safety with an uncle in Bradford
following Kristallnacht in November 1938. Lewis'
parents and his sister also managed to leave Germany
and came to Bradford.
After completing his schooling school he studied
Textiles at Bradford Technical College then
served in the army for a couple of years.
He
started working his uncle’s textile firm beginning
by sweeping floors. However when he was 22
he became a junior cloth buyer at Marks and
Spencer and his obvious ability led to promotion
to quality control where he devised new systems
and was made Head of Technology. He was an
acknowledged expert in the new synthetic fibres
and he employed technicians to work with each
buyer to ensure that his strict demands were
met by each supplier. The systems he imposed
to achieve high standards were crucial to the
company’s success and reputation and he was
made a Director in 1968.
Lewis moved to the Vantona Group (later Vantona
Viyella) from 1978 until 1985. During this period
he began 12 years of service to the British
Standards Institute efore spending 7 years
heading up a Department of Trade and Industry
initiative to develop small businesses.
Lewis returned to the College to present awards
to Textile students in March 1989.He praised
the work done, saying that training tomorrow’s
technologists was the most important job and an
investment for the forthcoming Single European
Market. He called for ambition, attitude and
aspirations to be combined with a willingness to
work together. He also offered to sponsor a 3 year
travel trainee at the College.
He was generous with his time and funds and
supported many causes. He was Chairman of the
British-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Founder-
Member and Governor of Shenkar College and the
Anglo-Israel Association, and a Council Member
of the Ben Uri Art Society. He was a key supporter
of the Centre for German Jewish Studies at Sussex
University. Another interest was mental health
and he served on Barnet’s Community Health
Committee and the Jewish Association for Mental
Illness. He was a member of the Worshipful
Company of Glovers where he arranged
restoration of their historic glove collection. He
was awarded the OBE in 1990.
Lewis Goodman died in March 2002.
Photograph courtesy of The Times. Many thanks to Mrs Deborah Guttentag for additional information about her late uncle.