It is with great sadness that we note the sudden passing of former IES President, the sixth Duke of Westminster, who died on 9th August 2016 at the age of 64.

His Grace, also known as Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, became the sixth Duke of Westminster in 1979. Having joined the Territorial Army as a trooper nine years earlier, he served a lengthy military career rising to the rank of Major General by 2004. He was awarded an OBE in 1995 for his services in the volunteer force and eventually retired from the military in 2012.

Revered as a major British philanthropist, he donated to over a thousand charitable bodies and causes through the grant-making body, The Westminster Foundation, and played active roles in many organisations including President at the Royal National Institute of Blind People and St John Ambulance.

The Duke was appointed President of the IES in 1989, stating that he was "deeply honoured and delighted to have been invited". As head of the Grosvenor Estate, he provided several London properties and postal addresses for the purpose of IES business operations, and often authorised the use of the Grosvenor Offices for Council meetings, AGMs, external meetings, and even a Burntwood Lecture. Furthermore, The Westminster Foundation donated generously to various IES activities including an annual rebate on our office rent, a £5,000 donation for a revision of our Career Handbook and a donation towards our office relocation. After 24 years as IES President, he stepped down from the role in 2013.

He saw himself as a "countryman by birth and inclination", and believed it to be "our responsbility to manage the balance of nature".