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The funeral of former Wellsford businessman and Springhill Farm resident Richard Izard OBE was held in Taupo on January 11. Izard died on January 2, aged 89. At its peak, Izard’s tungsten carbide-tipped saw-blade factory in Wellsford employed 525 people and had 40 per cent of the world saw-blade market
In an interview with Mahurangi Matters nearly 20 years ago, Izard said he had chosen Wellsford because the Government was offering incentives for businesses to set up in areas where there was high unemployment. He ran the company for 14 years until 1994, when he sold to the US-owned Irwin Industrial Tools, which eventually closed the factory in 2009. Springhill, now owned by Waste Management, is the proposed site of a controversial regional landfill. Izard was remembered as a man with a passion for cars and flying, who injected energy and enthusiasm into any project he was involved in. His funeral was live-streamed here: https://www.livenz.tv/funerals-ondemand
