Rail chief Sir Peter Parker dies

Sir Peter Parker, chairman of British Rail from 1976 to 1983, has died while on holiday with his family in Turkey.

His death yesterday is understood to have been from natural causes. Sir Peter, 77, once said that he would like to be remembered as a man who thought efficiency and happiness were reconcilable.

It was this combination of business acumen and social responsibility that made him a natural candidate to run the ailing nationalised industry.

But it was also the reason why his tenure was ultimately seen as only a qualified success which failed to prevent the decline that led ultimately to privatisation.

The first part of his chairmanship went well.

He introduced a "contract" with the Government whereby he would improve efficiency in return for a subsidy for social costs and investment.

However, he ran into trouble with the rail unions and in a series of disputes over flexible rostering, promises of productivity improvements failed to materialise. In the end the unions capitulated but valuable time was lost. He described the disputes as "a necessary journey through hell".

His dreams of presiding over the electrification of the whole network and the building of the Channel Tunnel had to be left to his successors, but his prediction that BR was on course to move into profit and make more than £90 million by 1988 now seem like fantasy.

His breakthrough came when he was made secretary of the Duke of Edinburgh's Industrial Welfare Society, now the Industrial Society, and developed the contacts that would eventually make him one of the most high-profile executives in British industry.

His eldest son Alan, 45, is worth an estimated £95 million as head of PR giant Brunswick.

Son Oliver, 42, is a successful film director while Nathaniel, 40, is a TV actor.

Daughter Lucy, 49, has also directed films.