My brother Neil Goldman, who has died aged 74, was chief executive of the business Colpac, where he was at the forefront of innovations in the British paperboard food packaging industry for more than 50 years.
Neil joined Colpac, which was originally a hat box-making firm owned by his father, in the early 1970s, just as the consumption of takeaway food was beginning to boom in the UK, and quickly saw an opportunity for the business to branch out into supplying fast food packaging made out of paperboard, rather than the plastic almost exclusively used at the time.
He also recognised that the development of paper recycling in the US in the 70s and 80s was an opportunity to provide the market with recyclable paperboard, and therefore a more sustainable way for people to consume food.
In addition Neil made sure that Colpac was first to the market with compostable packaging in the 90s, and he developed microwaveable paperboard bowls and heat-seal designs. In fact, just about every environmentally sustainable takeaway food carton, pot, tray and box can trace its roots back to Neil’s innovations.
He was born in London as the eldest of the three children of Martin Goldman and Brenda (nee Flugelman), a secretary at the BBC. Both his parents were Jewish, and his father had fled to the UK from Nazi Germany, after which he bought Frank Coleman (Luton) Ltd, a hat box business.
Educated at Merchant Taylors’ school in Hertfordshire, Neil won a scholarship to St John’s College, Oxford, to read modern languages. After graduating in 1972 he joined his father’s firm, and by the early 80s he was at the helm, changing the name to Colpac.
Outside his business interests, Neil had a philanthropic impact by making substantial donations to charities, including Parkinson’s UK, Cancer Research UK, the Weiner Holocaust Library and Brighter Futures.
His exceptional gift for languages – he spoke nine – was matched by an incredible ear for melody. In his spare time he wrote dozens of songs while sitting at the piano at his home in Radlett, Hertfordshire, to combat the stresses of business life. Some of those compositions have found their way into two musical theatre projects that he and I collaborated on – Up Is There and A Tale of Little Italy – to be developed.
Neil is survived by his wife, Olivia (nee Davis), an artist, whom he married in 1986, their daughters, Aura and Talia, and his sisters, Fiona and me.
