Marcus Tiefenbrun, the leader of one of Scotland's most successful engineering firms, has died suddenly aged 60.
The death at his home in Newton Mearns last Thursday of the managing director and owner of Castle Precision Engineering, which employs 150 in south Glasgow, shocked the workforce. The factory was closed, only reopening yesterday morning.
Marcus Tiefenbrun, who studied engineering and marketing at Paisley University, was nominated for Entrepreneur of The Year at the annual Scottish Business Awards in 2010 when the company was also named UK Manufacturer of the Year. His son Jan Lazare, 26, joined the board that year.
Castle Precision reported a £475,000 profit last year, after two years of losses, helped by strong sales growth of its components for customers in aerospace and car manufacturing. Among its projects are building the wheels for the Bloodhound supersonic vehicle, which will attempt to reach a speed of 1000mph in South Africa in 2016.
Earlier this year the firm announced plans to recruit 25 more staff to help handle its expected workload.
Mr Tiefenbrun took over running the firm in 1993 from his Polish-born father Jack, who fled to Glasgow from Austria in 1938 and founded the Textile Engineering Company in1951. Early customers included the Singer sewing machine giant before it diversified into making components for a range of industries, being renamed in 1963.
In 1973 the business spawned Linn Hi-Fi , founded by Mr Tiefenbrun's older brother Ivor who invented a new turntable, and now run by his nephew Gilad. A pioneer in audio equipment, Linn employs 175 in East Renfrewshire.
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