A bursary is to be established in memory of one of Waterford's best loved adopted citizens. Friends of the late Harry Diegmann, who set up the Kromberg & Schubert factory in the city in 1973, are to manage the fund, which will finance a third-level education scholarship for students from local secondary schools.
Trustees were appointed this week to the Harry Diegmann Education Trust, which will annually support two students studying engineering at a third-level institution in the Republic or Northern Ireland.
The schools from which the students will be selected are St Paul's Community College, on Paddy Browne's Road, and the Abbey Community College, in Ferrybank. The scheme is aimed at students who might otherwise not be in a position to take up third-level education.
Mr Nicholas Fewer, the trust chairman, said it was decided to remember Mr Diegmann in this way because he was an engineer.
"Harry was willing to help people whenever he could and he was always ready to assist others in reaching their goals in life," he said.
"The schools chosen were located close to where he lived and to his place of work at Kromberg & Schubert. The trustees plan to appoint an independent expert in education who will select the two most suitable candidates for the bursary each year."
The trust is being registered as a charity.
Mr Diegmann was born in 1940 in Wuppertal, Germany. and joined the Kromberg & Schubert plant in Wuppertal, which made cables and cable harnesses for the automotive industry, in 1969.
Four years later he set up the company's Waterford plant, which at one time employed 1,200 and now has 250 staff.
He was also in charge of a Kromberg & Schubert factory in India and, in recent years, a plant in Portugal.
The trust established in his name has the support of the company, which plans to maintain contact with the scholarship winners and provide training, support and mentoring where appropriate.
Mr Diegmann died last year and is buried at Ferrybank.
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