Trevor Shears
Bus boss and philanthropist
TREVOR SHEARS, who has died at the age of 69, enjoyed a successful career in the bus industry as one of the founding directors of Go-Ahead Group based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
In his retirement, he became well known as a philanthropist supporting causes in Yorkshire and the North East and was awarded the OBE for services to charity.
Trevor Halliday Shears was born in Ilkley on March 17, 1945, and lived with his parents Kathy and Douglas Shears, together with his elder brother Peter, in Thornton, Bradford. He remained a proud Yorkshireman for the rest of his life
He was a pupil of Bradford Grammar School from 1954 until 1961. He started his work as a trainee chartered accountant with Moss Swallow and Isles in Bradford. He also worked for several other firms in the Bradford area until he finally qualified with Peat Marwick Mitchell.
He entered the bus industry in 1974 as assistant secretary and accountant at The Northern General Transport Company. After a three-year period at East Yorkshire Motor Services, he returned to Northern General in 1979 to become the company secretary and accountant.
He was made finance director and was part of the management buy-out team when the bus industry was deregulated in 1987 and Northern General became the Go-Ahead Group, which was floated on the Stock Market in 1994 and became one of the highly respected transport companies in this country.
He retired from the Go-Ahead Group in 1996 to spend more time with his second wife Lyn and pursue his great love of transport, especially to be involved with the Seaton Tramway in East Devon as a member of the board and latterly as chairman of the company.
Commenting on his wealth, acquired following the flotation of Go-Ahead, he once observed: “I expected to be an accountant all my life with a reasonable middleclass sort of existence, but what has happened since 1987 was not even a wild dream before then.”
He wanted to give something back to the people of Tyne and Wear and Northumberland and gave half his wealth away to charitable causes.
He also set up his own charitable trust with his wife – The Shears Foundation – which the couple managed together for 18 years.
The charities supported in Yorkshire include The Ear Trust at Bradford Royal Infirmary,
I expected to be an accountant all my life with a reasonable sort of existence.
the bursary scheme at Bradford Grammar School, Manorlands Hospice in Keighley, One In A Million in Bradford and the Stirley Community Farm project in Huddersfield, which is run by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. This led to Mr Shears being honoured by an OBE for services to charities in 2009.
He had two children, Amanda and Richard with his first wife Sue, but he also looked upon Lyn’s children, Mark and Louise together with their sons and daughters-in-law and all of their seven grandchildren, as one united family.
He became terminally ill with metastatic liver cancer earlier this year, but he fought it bravely until the end and died on May 10 surrounded by his family.