Wife pays tribute to ‘generous and affectionate’ husband who went to school and worked in Northampton

A wife has paid tribute to her much-loved husband who went to school and worked in Northampton.

Harry Fuchs died in May at the age of 89 after suffering with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure for a number of years.

Born in Czechoslovakia, Harry’s family moved to the UK as the Second World War loomed.

When his dad got a local job, Harry attended what is now Northampton School for Boys.

Despite moving away from the area for work, Harry came back to Northampton, where he met his wife, Caryl, and was well known as a prominent business figure.

Caryl, who he married in 1960 described him as ‘generous’, ‘affectionate’ and ‘wise’.

She said: “Harry was a very bright person. His main interests were information and knowledge, talking about it and debating it.

“Every letter we’ve received said that the way he shared his knowledge was fantastic.

“He was a very generous man and he had a cheeky sense of humour.

“Harry was delightful company and he enriched so many people’s lives.”

During his impressive career, Harry worked for an aircraft company and even built an analogue computer to solve the mathematics of the stability problem with helicopters.

He then moved into electronic engineering, which was his real passion, and had numerous roles in the telex and telecommunications industries.

Locally, Harry was the head of international marketing at Telectron, which opened a factory in Northampton that was later sold to Siemens. He also ran business centres when his father passed away and left him buildings.

In his spare time away from his high flying roles, Harry enjoyed sailing, shooting and vintage cars.

Caryl added: “Harry did so many different things.

“He was very wise as a father. We had a family motto of ‘confer and triumph’, which keeps us close and all of his grandchildren adored him.

“Harry was amazingly loving and affectionate and gave me the best gift of all.

“When we needed more money, he just said to me ‘you need to go out and make some money' and he had no doubts that I could do that.

“I would never have thought to do that myself and my confidence and life improved and that wouldn’t have happened without him.”

Harry leaves behind his wife, two children and three grandchildren.

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