Compass Group chief, five others killed in Sydney seaplane crash

The chief executive of British catering giant Compass Group Plc (CPG.L) and four members of his family were killed when the seaplane they were flying in crashed into a Sydney river on New Year’s Eve.

Richard Cousins, 58, chief of the world’s biggest catering firm, died together with Emma Bowden, 48, Heather Bowden, 11, Edward Cousins, 23, and William Cousins, 25, according to Detective Superintendent Mark Hutchings of the New South Wales Police.

Australian media identified the dead as the CEO’S two sons, his fiancee and her daughter. The pilot, Gareth Morgan, 44, also died. Cousins had been due to retire on March 31.

Compass said the new chief executive, Dominic Blakemore, would now start on January 1 instead of April 1 as originally planned.

Compass, with annual turnover of almost 23 billion pounds ($31 billion), employs around 550,000 people around the world providing food services to schools, the armed forces and office workers.

Blakemore, who has worked at Compass since 2012 with roles as both finance director and head of the group’s European operations, has a background in accounting. He has also held senior financial roles at British food groups Cadbury and Birds Eye Iglo.

Cousins led Compass over the past 11 years. He was widely credited with turning the company’s business around and making Compass into one of the FTSE 100’s best-performing firms, and had also been named as one of the world’s best-performing CEOS by Harvard Business Review.