Obituary:

Sir Leslie Loader, Kt, CBE, retired company chairman and leading
Conservative Party worker, died 24 July, 2003. He was aged 80.
Leslie Thomas Loader was born 27 April, 1923, the son of Edward Robert
Loader by his wife, the former Ethel May Tiller.

He was educated at Bitterne Park; Bournemouth Municipal College; & the
London School of Economics & Political Science (occasional student).

Career: served in the WW2 in the Hampshire Regiment (now Royal
Hampshire Regiment), & saw active service in Italy; Member,
Southampton Borough Council, 1947-59; contested Southampton Itchen for
the Conservatives in 1955 (unsuccessfully); Chairman, Southampton
Young Conservatives, 1947; Chairman Southampton Itchen Conservative
Association, 1964-70; Chairman, Wessex Area Conservative Party,
1972-75; Member, Executive, National Union of Conservative & Unionist
Associations, 1967-76; Member of the Standing Advisory Committee on
Parliamentary Candidates; Hon Life Vice-President, Wessex Area, 1990;
President, Eastleigh Conservative Association, 1985-98; President,
Swaythling Housing Society Ltd, 1983-92 (Chairman 1976-83); Member,
Southampton Harbour Board, 1951-56; Southampton and South West
Hampshire Health Authority, 1981-86; Trustee, Wessex Medical School
Trust, 1983-86; formerly a member of the Court of Governors of
University College Southampton, later University of Southampton;
founder, South Hampshire Aviation Historical Soc., 1980; Freeman, City
of London; Liveryman, Painter-Stainers' Company, &c.

Loader was appointed CBE in 1980, and knighted in 1987.

He married in 1957, Jennifer (marriage dissolved), by whom he had
three daughters, Mel, Kate and Anna.

The funeral will take place at St John the Baptist Church, Mildenhall,
near Marlborough, Wiltshire, Thursday 31 July, 2003.