SIR KENNETH COUZENS

Administrator whose diplomatic skills led to his role as a peacemaker

AS PERMANENT Under-Secretary at the Department of Energy, Kenneth Couzens played a central role in organising the Government's response to the miners' strike in 1984. Appointed to the role just the previous year, Couzens had spent most ofthe previous three decades at the Treasury. Nevertheless, he so impressed Ian MacGregor that the National Coal Board chairman lobbied for Couzens to become his deputy. MacGregor reasoned that the civil servant's knowledge of Whitehall's workings would prove invaluable to the NCB. As it turned out, Couzens's diplomatic skills proved just as important, for he was sometimes obliged to play the peacemaker between his implacable chairman and Ms former department. The son of a civil servant, Kenneth Edward Couzens was born in Portsmouth in 1925. He attended Portsmouth Grammar School before obtaining a double first in French and German at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Having joined the Inland Revenue in 1949, he performed so well that he was transferred to the Treasury two years later. In 1952 he began a three-year stint as private secretary to the Financial Secretary. He served as private secretary to the Chief Secretary between 1962 and 1963 and was then promoted to assistant secretary. In 1968 Couzens joined the Civil Service Department. Established pursuant to the findings of the Fulton report, the department enjoyed responsibility for determining civil servants' conditions of service until its abolition in 1981: Couzens was promoted to under-secretary in 1969 and returned to the Treasury the following year. He was appointed deputy secretary with responsibility for incomes policy and public finance in 1973. He served as Second Permanent Secretary (Overseas Finance) between 1977 and 1982. During his 30 years with the Treasury, Couzens gained a reputation as a loyal and popular colleague, conscientious manager and effective administrator. A hard worker, he was particularly admired for his ability to write lucidly at breakneck speed. After his two years at the Department of Energy and three years at the National Coal Board, Couzens joined the board of Credit Lyonnais capital markets in 1989. He served as its chairman from 1991 to 1996 and its vice-chairman from 1996 to 1998. He was appointed CB in 1976 and KCB in 1979. Kenneth Couzens married Muriel Fey in 1947. Predeceased by a son, he is survived by his wife and their daughter.

Sir Kenneth Couzens, KCB, deputy chairman ofthe National Coal Board 1985-88, was born on May 29,1925. He died on August 4,2004, aged 79.