Leading figure in West Midlands home brewing dies aged 63

Sedgley-born Dr Robert Harris, of Wolverhampton, was a director of Dark Rock Brewing in Lower Gornal and a director of Dark Rock's parent company Harris Homecraft. He was well known in the home brewing community across the West Midlands.

He dedicated more than 40 years to the home brewing business, starting his journey in 1971 alongside his late father Bob Harris, of Brandon Close and later High Park Crescent, Sedgley, who invented a wine filtering system.

Over the past decade, he worked closely with his son James in creating and developing the Dark Rock brand.

"Robert’s extraordinary contributions have been instrumental in shaping our success.

"His wisdom, guidance, dedication and attitude represent an inspiration to us, and we are committed to honouring his memory and continuing to build on his legacy," said James, also a director and who will take on the business.

"His death came as a great shock to me and my sister Bethany and the rest of the family," he added.

Dr Harris died in New Cross Hospital on July 12 after a short illness.

The former Harris Home Brew business in Zoar Street, which sells home brew kits and also wine filters, will be closed on Tuesday, August 13 for the funeral as a mark of respect.

The funeral is taking place at 3pm at Bushbury Crematorium in Wolverhampton and is open to anyone who wishes to pay their respects.

Dr Harris, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, was also a senior lecturer in marketing and enterprise in the University of Wolverhampton’s Business School. His specialist lecturing areas include change management, strategic management/marketing, international business development, innovation in marketing and strategic marketing communications.

He delivered many commercial and government-funded programmes to organisations of all sizes and provided business support to more than 500 small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dr Harris also published and presented conference papers in key international forums. His doctoral research focused on developing the marketing capability of regional SMEs.

He was presented with the Lord Stafford Award for Knowledge Transfer in 2007 in recognition of his effective contribution and long-term commitment to developing the commercial capability of UK businesses.

He had a BA (Hons) in business studies, a Master of Business Administration postgraduate degree and a Doctorate in Business Administration.