Humble start triggers rise to leadership positions

ALEX ‘Mick’ MacLeod rose from humble roots to lead some of Geelong’s most prominent institutions.

The last chairman of the Port of Geelong Authority before it was privatised, Mr MacLeod is being remembered as a man who married his sharp intellect with plenty of hard work.

Born in East Geelong in 1929, his first job was at the gasworks in North Geelong, before working at a tar works and progressing his career to become manager of Boral in Geelong.

His wife of 42 years, Helen MacLeod, said her husband was a boy from humble beginnings, who worked his way into senior positions thanks to director of Transwest Haulage, a public company founded in Geelong which became majority owned by John Swire & Sons, part of the UK-based Swire Group, whose holdings include major listed companies Swire Pacific and Cathay Pacific Airways.

Transwest Haulage had operations around Australia in bulk cartage, waste management, materials handling and scrap metal processing and Mrs MacLeod said her husband went on to travel the world dealing in scrap metal.

After retiring, he held key roles as chairman of the City of Greater Geelong Economic Development Board, deputy chairman of the Driver Education Centre of Australia and at the Port of Geelong Authority of which he was chairman when it was sold.

Mrs MacLeod said other roles included being chairman of the Geelong Independent, and lecturing on transport and road making for the World Bank in China.

“He probably did more in retirement than any other time,” she said.

While his mind remained sharp, Mr MacLeod faced many health battles over the past 20 years.

Survived by Helen, two children and two stepchildren, he died on October 1.

Mr MacLeod was 90.