Sid Ward, who founded what was to become one of Australia's largest air-freight companies, Wards Air Cargo, has died. He was 99.
The World War II RAAF and RAF pilot established a courier business in 1959 from a garage shed in Parramatta, in Sydney's west, when he owned just one Volkswagen Kombi van to run freight to and from Mascot Airport.
Wards Air Cargo Pty Ltd grew to employ 3000 people in Australia and Papua New Guinea and was operating 18 aircraft when it was bought by Mayne Nickless Ltd in 1979.
The company's road and air fleet was identified by cartoon insignia of a pilot's head bedecked in leather helmet and flying goggles, a red scarf trailing behind and hand held up in a "V" salute.
Mr Ward established the company after what he described as "an accident of fate". Having lost a large Parramatta electrical business to fire - and the warehouse that supplied it - he was deeply in debt when he began carrying parcels for people in western Sydney.
He had loved flying since the time he was introduced to it as a young man growing up in Concord but his time as a flying instructor in England during WWII had all but taken his hearing. He was able to fly solo for some time after the war but was grounded when radio use became mandatory.
Keith Robey, a friend with whom he had trained in the RAAF and who flew a single-engine Cessna out of Bankstown Airport, helped out by taking him up and becoming his "ears" when he had the controls. Mr Robey had a friend who was NSW manager of Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) - a contact that enabled Mr Ward to link his own business, then known as Lennox Freight, to one of Australia's two largest carriers.
By 1961 the business had become known as Lennox Air Freight and became Wards Air Cargo a year later when TAA agreed to incorporate the company name on its consignment notes.
After selling the business in 1979, Mr Ward continued working as a freight management consultant until he was 96, driving the length and breadth of the country to maintain personal contact with people in the industry.
He was a proficient golfer, playing off a handicap of 18 when he finally put away the clubs in 2011.
Up until his death, he also maintained intense interest in organisations that help people with inter-personal relationships.
He died peacefully on Saturday surrounded by family at home in Healesville, near Melbourne.
Married three times, Mr Ward is survived by his two sons, David and Stephen, from his marriage to his late first wife, Auriel, and grandchildren Tom, Alex, Lauren and Grant.
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