Douch Family Funerals’ former MD dies aged 76

Douch Family Funeral Directors has announced that its former chairman and managing director, Peter Douch, died on Friday 4 August, aged 76. 

Only last year, he stepped down from his roles within the family business and said that in retirement he wanted to watch more sport, which was his passion. 

Before his passing last week, he had been watching Gloucestershire play Northants in a one-day cricket match in Cheltenham and died the following morning.

Douch had been involved in the business since 1994, when he joined as finance director after a career as a chartered accountant. 

The Dorset-based family business was founded in 1909 by Fred Douch in Wimborne, grandfather to the deceased, as what was initially a furniture and furnishing business. 

When Peter Douch took up his role in the family business, it had just two of its furniture shops left and only three funeral branches. At present, it is now dedicated to funerals with seven branches across Dorset, employing more than 50 staff. 

Peter Douch trained as an accountant in Poole and secured his first post-qualification job in St Lucia, where he met his wife Josephine, a nurse. He then accepted a new job as an internal auditor with the export division of Coca-Cola, which meant travel in the USA, as well as central and South America. 

Returning to St Lucia in 1976 to get married, he became manager in Dominica of accountants Coopers and Lybrand.

Peter Douch secured another job back in St Lucia in 1978 with the local brewery, where the couple lived with their four sons, Dweyn, Nick, Quentin and Andrew, until a move to England in 1988. The family settled in the Wakefield area of Yorkshire where the children were schooled, and he worked for a management consultant in Bradford.

In 1994, his father, Jack Douch, was running the family business when he moved down to join the company as finance director. 

After his retirement, Peter Douch said: “My father ensured I worked in all aspects of the funeral business so I would know it inside out – from arranging and conducting funerals to coffin bearing. It is a grounding that was important and one that I impressed on my children.

“After closing the furniture business, we added to the funeral branches we had already, which were FC Douch and Son in Wimborne, AE Jolliffe in Ferndown and James Smith in Swanage. We acquired Albert Marsh of Wareham and Upton in 1999, Lesley Shand in Corfe Mullen in 2000, Anthony Ives of Parkstone in 2005, Charles Small in 2010 and in 2015 we opened a branch of Lesley Shand in Blandford.”

He added: “With my family heavily involved in local sport – especially cricket – for years, we have sponsored many teams and leagues, and for more than a decade, sponsored the Dorset Cricket League through our Dorset Funeral Plan.”

Nick Douch said: “My dad wasn’t keen on the limelight, but he shone in business. Tributes have been flooding in. Under his leadership, the business grew organically and through acquisitions. He was able to innovate while maintaining traditions, and won many awards.

“Following him into the managing director’s role was daunting, but under his guidance it was a smooth transition. He took pride in the family tradition being upheld as my brother Andrew and daughter Lakeisha became permanent members of the family business. Additionally, my brothers Dweyn and Quentin, cousin Jamie, and another daughter, Tamika, all gleaned invaluable experience from their time with the company.”

He added: “His passion was sport and he had visited almost all Britain’s professional football grounds, and he particularly loved cricket. He was always keen to help people and was genuinely interested in everybody he met, and he was a keen and long-standing Rotarian.”

Peter Douch lived between Dorset and St Lucia and is survived by his wife Josephine, sister Judy, four sons, three granddaughters, and an upcoming fourth granddaughter. He also leaves behind several nephews and nieces.