- 25 April 2008 -
Ian Sellars, Managing Director of Elcometer, Passes

Ian Sellars, the owner and managing director of Elcometer, and one of the founders of the modern coating inspection industry, passed away last week. He was 70.

Mr. Sellars’ earliest memory of the coatings industry was at the age of 9, watching his father make the first manufacturing tool used in the manufacture of the very first gauge that bore this famous company name, the Elcometer 101. He began working alongside his father in 1958, where his first job was assembling the valves into the Elcometer 103 mk1 “Elcotector” coating thickness gauge. In 1962, upon the death of his father, Sellars took control of Elcometer, at the age of 23. For nearly 50 years, Mr. Sellars steered the family business from a small 370-sq. ft operation employing seven people, into a global manufacturer and supplier of inspection equipment for the coatings and concrete industries that today employs more than 200 staff members in six offices and a comprehensive global network of 150-plus distributors.

Under his leadership, Mr. Sellars has introduced to the coatings industry a number of firsts. In addition, Elcometer won a Queen’s Award for Export and a Queen’s Award for Technical Innovation under his direction.

Sellars is survived by his wife, Nanette, and his son, Michael, who has been working with his father in the business for last 13 years. In his father’s memory, Elcometer will continue as strongly into the future as it has in the past, under his leadership, with the help of Nanette.