Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) mourns the passing of one of its founding fathers. Jan de Necker passed away last week in Paarl, Western Cape at the ripe old age of 93.
Mr De Necker was a well-known and much loved member of Toyota. As a good friend and business associate of founder Dr Albert Wessels, Mr De Necker was instrumental in bringing Toyota to South Africa. This is evident in the way in which he assisted in brokering a meeting between Dr Wessels and Toyota in Japan and how he laid the foundations for an import permit from the then South African government.
As business partners Mr De Necker and Dr Wessels co-founded the SA Finansieringskorporasie (Sasficor) along with Sasbank, Bonuskor and of course Toyota South Africa.
“Only recently Mr De Necker celebrated our fiftieth anniversary in South Africa with us and I am sure he shared our happiness when we notched up 33 years of market leadership earlier this year. Much of this success is thanks to the foundations laid by him and Dr Wessels, not only in the company and its management structure, but also its customer first philosophy and culture of innovation and hard work,” says Dr Van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the De Necker family and his wife Dalenè, son Pieter, daughter Sunè and three great- and five grandchildren. Mr De Necker served on the Toyota board into his seventies and his insight, wisdom and business skills will be sorely missed.”
A special memorial service will be held for Mr De Necker at the Strooidak Church in Paarl on 27 January 2013 at 10:00.