2:39 pm, December 14, 2021
Vertu founder director and first chairman Bill Teasdale has passed away at the age of 79 following a period of illness, the dealer group has announced.
The news was announced on Tuesday afternoon by Robert Forrester, Vertu’s CEO who worked closely with Teasdale.
The pair were initially colleagues at Reg Vardy before the Pendragon takeover saw them both leave in 2006.
Teasdale was then one of the major players in getting Vertu off the ground and travelled to London with Forrester to float the firm on the stock market.
The pair ended up collecting £26m for the new company, which was used then to buy dealerships.
Teasdale served as Vertu’s first ever chairman before becoming a non executive director in March 2007.
It was a position he filled for a decade before announcing his retirement in May 2017.
In 2018 he was honoured with a place on the ‘influencers wall’ at Vertu HQ, which celebrates the biggest contributions made to the dealer group.
Our Influencers wall is now up at Vertu House to recognise the contribution made by these awesome leaders on our Group and its management @DaveAnderson100 @IAmPaulCummings Sir Peter Vardy Bill Teasdale and the late Tom Fairgrieve pic.twitter.com/lRMQjgSeBn
— Robert Forrester (@vertumotorsCEO) May 26, 2018
Confirming the sad news, Robert Forrester said: ‘It is with great sadness that we learnt this morning of the passing of our founding director and first chairman, Bill Teasdale after a period of illness.
‘Bill had a positive influence on everyone he met and Vertu would not have existed without him. It is a very sad day.’
It is with great sadness that we learnt this morning of the passing of our founding director and first Chairman, Bill Teasdale after a period of illness. Bill had a positive influence on everyone he met and Vertu would not have existed without him. It is a very sad day.
— Robert Forrester (@vertumotorsCEO) December 14, 2021
